The FBI has released new video footage of the suspect in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, showing the gunman leaping from a rooftop at Utah Valley University before fleeing into a wooded area.
The shooting occurred shortly after 12:20pm Mountain Time on Wednesday, when the suspect fired a single rifle round from the roof of a campus building that struck Kirk in the neck as he addressed a student audience.
The newly released video shows the figure running across the roof, climbing down the building – leaving behind palm impressions, smudges believed to contain DNA, and a shoe imprint, according to the FBI. The suspect is then seen sprinting across a grassy area near a parking lot, and disappearing into nearby woods.
A high-powered Mauser bolt-action rifle, along with ammunition marked with “transgender” and “anti-fascist” slogans, was later recovered in that wooded area, according to law enforcement sources cited by ABC News.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox urged the public to assist in the manhunt, noting that more than 7,000 tips have already been submitted to the FBI – the largest volume since the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
“We cannot do our job without the public’s help right now,” Cox said at a press conference on Thursday. The governor also announced that Utah will “pursue the death penalty” once the suspect is caught.
The FBI’s Salt Lake City office continues to share images of the person of interest and is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. Trace evidence collected so far includes shoe impressions, a forearm imprint, and a palm print recovered from the rooftop where the shot was fired.
The FBI continues to work alongside our law enforcement partners to seek justice in the murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. We are releasing additional photos of a person of interest. Information about this developing investigation can be found… pic.twitter.com/woZacCxYgE
— FBI Salt Lake City (@FBISaltLakeCity) September 12, 2025
Kirk, 31, the founder of Turning Point USA, was a prominent conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump. His assassination has been described by officials as a targeted political assassination.
The reason for the mismatch would soon become apparent. After the briefing, Mr. Patel took to X again, this time to announce, “The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.”
He added, “Our investigation continues.”
There are no indications any of this has jeopardized Mr. Patel’s job. He is a close ally to a powerful Trump aide, Stephen Miller. For his part, Mr. Bongino appears to have weathered a crisis earlier this summer after he called on his boss, Attorney General Pam Bondi, to quit over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Yet there are unmistakable signs the White House thinks the bureau needs leadership help. Last month, the White House tapped Andrew Bailey, the attorney general of Missouri, to serve as deputy director of the F.B.I., forcing Mr. Bongino to share power with a far more experienced manager. Mr. Bailey started work this week.
On Thursday, about 22 hours after Mr. Kirk was shot, the investigation appeared to pick up momentum, when the police and the F.B.I. released security camera footage of a man in sunglasses and baseball cap believed to be the shooter, along with information about the bolt-action rifle and ammunition found near the campus.
Past investigations of high-profile incidents have also been plagued by missteps, including the 2013 inquiry after the deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon.
While there were multiple false starts as the public sought to identify the bombers, officials quickly zeroed in on two brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as the likely culprits after the F.B.I. published images and asked for the public’s help.
The appeal led to a frantic police chase and shootout.
Since then, law enforcement’s ability to take video clips and feed them through facial recognition software for possible matches has vastly improved.
“We are confident in our abilities to track that individual,” the F.B.I.’s special agent in charge in Salt Lake City, Robert Bohls, said Thursday morning. “If we’re unsuccessful in identifying them, immediately, we will reach out to the public.”
By afternoon, Mr. Patel posted another, more conventional message on his X account, one that might have been written by any of his predecessors — offering up to $100,000 “for information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk.”
At a news conference on the university’s campus in Orem hours later, Mr. Cox reiterated the plea for help in identifying and tracking the suspect.
Mr. Patel, flanking him, stayed silent.
Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice for The Times and has also written about gun violence, civil rights and conditions in the country’s jails and prisons.
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
Adam Goldman writes about the F.B.I. and national security for The Times. He has been a journalist for more than two decades.
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