Manhunt underway after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk shot dead in 'political assassination'

WASHINGTON: A manhunt is underway for the killer of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, after he was shot on Wednesday (Sep 10) during an event at Utah Valley University.

The 31-year-old and the group he co-founded, Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth organisation in the country, played a key role in driving young voter support for Trump in November.

In the immediate aftermath, there were hours of confused statements from officials about the fatal incident. 

"This shooting is still an active investigation," the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a statement, adding it was working with the FBI, the Utah County Attorney’s office, the Utah County Sheriff’s office and local police departments.

After two suspects were taken in and released, "there is an ongoing investigation and manhunt for the shooter", the statement read.

FBI Director Kash Patel said an unnamed person had been detained for questioning, then released. "Our investigation continues," he wrote on social media.

Local authorities said the shot came from the campus, possibly from a rooftop, and the shooter was wearing dark clothing. 

GUNSHOT, SCREAMS

Dressed in a white T-shirt with the word "Freedom" across the front, Kirk sat in a chair under a tent emblazoned with the slogans The American Comeback and Prove Me Wrong.

He had been answering questions from the large audience gathered around him at about 12.20pm local time. 

The event, the first of about 15 scheduled across the country through the end of October, drew more than 3,000 people.

Seconds before he was shot, Kirk was being queried by an audience member about gun violence, according to multiple videos of the event posted online.

"Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?" an audience member asked.

Kirk responded, "Too many."

The questioner followed up: "Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?"

"Counting or not counting gang violence?" Kirk asked.

Those were his last words before a single shot rings out. 

Footage posted to social media show Kirk reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. He was then rushed away on a stretcher by his security detail.

"As soon as that shot went out, he fell back," former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, who was at the event, told Fox News. "Everybody hit the deck ... a lot of people started screaming, and then everybody started running."

POLITICAL ASSASSINATION

The shooter targeted one person, said Beau Mason, the commissioner of the state Department of Public Safety.

"The shooter is believed to have fired from the roof of a building down to the location of the public event in the student courtyard," said the department. 

Utah Governor Spencer Cox called the killing a "political assassination".

Officers were seen looking at a photo on their phones and showing it to people to see if they recognised a person of interest. 

Authorities took one man, George Zinn, into custody, who they later released after determining he was not the suspect, Mason said. The police booked Zinn into the county jail on allegations of obstructing justice, he added. 

A voicemail message left at a number listed for Zinn was not immediately returned. Zinn pleaded guilty in 2013 to making terrorist threats after police said he emailed Salt Lake City Marathon organisers asking to place bombs at the finish line.

The university said the campus was immediately evacuated and remained closed, with classes cancelled until further notice. Those still on campus were asked to stay in place until police officers could safely escort them off.

LACK OF SECURITY?

As was typical for Kirk's events, security was light. There were six university police officers assigned to the event, plus some private security. 

There were no metal detectors or bag checks, students told The Associated Press. Some attendees said no one even checked their tickets.

After the shooting the crowd fled the plaza in multiple directions, some slipping and falling or leaping over benches as they did.

Ryan DeVries, a 25-year-old who works in property management and volunteers as a first responder, said he was surprised by the lack of a security presence at the event; he left his firearm in his car as he anticipated having to walk through metal detectors.

He was weaving his way through the tightly packed crowd to pose a question to Kirk when he heard what sounded similar to a "popping" firework. Glancing at the stage after the shot was fired, DeVries saw Kirk’s head slumped.

A stampede rife with terror and panic soon erupted, said DeVries. Some attendees darted to a nearby building and ran through a water fountain to escape, he said. Others ducked and hid.

"People definitely feared for their lives. I could see it in their eyes. I could hear it in their voices. People were crying. People were screaming," DeVries said.

Former congressman Chaffetz said in an interview on Fox News Channel that there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some security but not enough.

"Utah is one of the safest places on the planet," he said. "And so we just don’t have these types of things."

GUN RIGHTS ADVOCATE

Kirk, who was also a podcaster, embraced notions of Christian nationalism and often made provocative statements about gender, race, religion and politics. 

He was a prominent defender of the Second Amendment, which grants US citizens the right to bear arms and had written a book titled The Second Amendment and Hunting Heritage.

"I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights," Kirk said during a Turning Point event in Salt Lake City in 2023, adding that gun deaths can be reduced but will never go away.

Often, he brought those ideas onto college campuses, where they were especially controversial. Kirk was known for openly debating progressives and challenging audiences to stump him on political points.

His campus appearances often drew protests, and Wednesday's was no different. Online petitions signed by thousands of people had called for his talk at Utah Valley University, as well as another, scheduled for Sep 30 at Utah State University, to be cancelled.

The university responded by affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue".