Manhunt for Charlie Kirk's assassin continues; Cox threatens death penalty as FBI director visits

OREM — Gov. Spencer Cox says investigators have received more than 7,000 tips and leads, conducted more than 200 interviews and have good video footage of the man suspected of shooting and killing Charlie Kirk.

"A lot of forensic evidence being processed," he said.

But as of Thursday night, no arrests had been made, the manhunt for that person continues, and investigators say they still have not positively identified the gunman.

Cox, however, again proclaimed Thursday night, as he did on Wednesday, that when "this evil human being" is captured, the state "will pursue the death penalty."

The manhunt for the gunman who shot and killed conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk while he was speaking to students at Utah Valley University on Wednesday reached 32 hours by Thursday evening. New images from security cameras, as well as surveillance video, were released showing the suspected gunman's movements onto campus, and how he got down from the roof of the Losse building and walked away.

Earlier in the day, it was announced that the murder weapon had been found.

"We have recovered what we believe is the weapon used in yesterday's shooting. It is a high-powered, bolt-action rifle. That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled," FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Salt Lake office Robert Bohls said during a Thursday morning press conference.

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Watch: Investigators share new surveillance video of Charlie Kirk shooting suspect

In a press briefing Thursday night, public safety officials shared new surveillance video of the man they suspect shot and killed Charlie Kirk at UVU on Wednesday.

By midday Thursday, the FBI had announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible.

FBI Director Kash Patel visited the UVU campus and crime scene on Thursday. He stood next to the governor as Cox delivered his brief comments during a Thursday night press conference, but Patel did not address the media or take questions. Also standing next to the governor were several local and federal law enforcement leaders. He said the case was not just a Utah matter but a national incident.

Cox added that there is a "tremendous amount of disinformation out there" and encouraged people to "put our phones down" and spend more time with their families.

The gunman

At 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, Kirk, 31, was sitting under a tent of an outdoor amphitheater-courtyard area speaking in front of approximately 3,000 people when he was shot in the neck by a man on the roof of a nearby building from about 175 to 200 yards away.

Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason says the gunman arrived at an undisclosed area just off campus at 11:52 a.m.

"We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to a shooting location. After the shooting, we were able to track his movements to the other side of the building, jumped off the building and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood," the commissioner said.

Surveillance video released Thursday evening shows that after the shooting, the gunman hung over the edge of the roof and dropped to the grassy ground below. In doing so, Mason said he left palm impressions and a shoe print, which is believed to be from a Converse tennis shoe. He then walks across the road to a wooded area about a quarter mile away from campus where the gun was later found.

The public safety department says there's no evidence to suggest the man was injured in the long jump.

Although Mason would not directly say whether investigators believe they have identified the gunman, he said he "appears to be of college age" and "blended in well with the college institution. We're not releasing many details right now."

He said the man seemed "comfortable" with the environment he was in, and even potentially familiar with the campus and the area.

Pictures taken from surveillance video released Thursday show a man wearing a ball cap with a triangle logo and sunglasses walking up a staircase. He is wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt that appears to have an American flag with an eagle on it. Mason said the shirt is "very distinctive" and hopes someone will recall if they know a person who owns such a shirt. He is also wearing jeans.

Mason says investigators are only calling the man in the surveillance photos that were released a "person of interest" because the gunman on the roof was wearing a mask on the roof. But he added that they are "very confident" it's him.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Mason was asked whether the gunman could have military or special training with weapons since he only took one shot. Mason, however, called it an "average" shot, noting that there are many hunters in Utah who do the same thing, and that the public shouldn't put too much speculation into the experience of the gunman.

He also noted the easy accessibility the gunman had to the roof.

"That roof is fairly easy. I know there's a lot of criticism over whether that roof was protected or not. We had no involvement in scene security for the incident itself. But this is a very open campus with a lot of elevated positions where people did have easy access to. That stands out; that's not the norm," he told NBC. "It is very accessible."

The FBI has created a digital tip line for information regarding this shooting at fbi.gov/UtahValleyShooting. Anyone with video or pictures of the incident or the gunman is asked to submit them to the website. Or tipsters can call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

3 arrests

Two other people of interest were detained and questioned on Wednesday. One man was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice. A second man, who the FBI director originally said was the suspected gunman, was also released. Patel had posted on X, "The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody." Yet that man was released about 90 minutes later.

About 11 a.m. Thursday, a third person was arrested, though police say he did not have any involvement with the shooting.

"A male entered the UVU school grounds and approached the shooting scene. Ignoring police crime scene tape, he entered the secured area and began taking photos of the scene and law enforcement officers. When an agent ordered him to stop and attempted to identify him, the male fled on foot but was soon apprehended by other officers," the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

A police booking affidavit further states the 38-year-old man from Pleasant Grove was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice and trespassing for essentially taking a selfie inside the crime scene. He was spotted by law enforcers "in a white lab coat ... inside the secured crime scene, who had crossed the crime scene tape and was using his phone to take photos and videos of evidence."

He initially ran off when police tried to talk to him but stopped a short time later.

"(He) explained he was in the crime scene taking photos and videos of the crime scene where a high-profile political person was shot and he was reminiscing and filming the scene," according to the affidavit, which added that he tried to avoid police contact so as not to "disturb" officers.

"There was two set of yellow crime scene tape up that (he) would have to (have) crossed to make it to the main incident crime scene," the affidavit states.

On Thursday, Mason asked the public "to be patient with the investigative process. These people were not suspects; they were people of interest. We ask that you do not impose into those people and that investigative process. They don't deserve that harassment for being subject to that."

Kirk's body was moved to the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner in Taylorsville overnight. Plans were being made on Thursday to return his body home. Mason, who talked to Kirk's wife Wednesday, said the family is "devastated."

"As the commissioner of public safety, as a father, as a husband, I can only imagine what that family is going through. The heinous event that happened yesterday is not Utah; that's not what we're known for," he said. "We will not stand for what happened yesterday. We are exhausting every lead. We have every officer invested in this, every investigator, every local agency.

"We will catch this individual."

Vice President JD Vance flew to Salt Lake City Thursday to meet with Kirk's family and was to escort Kirk's body back to Phoenix on Air Force Two.

'I wish I could unsee it'

Former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who headed the House Government Oversight Committee, was at UVU on Wednesday. He told TMZ Live on Thursday that he had been texting Kirk prior to the event and was anxious to get together with him after. He described the crowd as "jubilant" and "excited" to hear him speak.

It was after the second person in line to debate Kirk asked a question that the shot rang out.

"Everbody hit the deck. There was panic. People screaming. And everybody started running. I saw it, and I wish I could unsee it," he told TMZ, adding that he's still in shock. "It was horrific. I've never experienced anything like that, and I hope no one else has to experience that in their lives either. It was horrific."

Chaffetz said while Kirk was conservative and very Christian, he didn't expect everyone else to share his same values, which is why he was a "rock star" for hosting the kind of debates he did.

"There are people who don't like Charlie Kirk and his message. There are people that disagree with him. I think the whole point, though, of Charlie Kirk and his success is that he was challenging, particularly young people, to think and say, 'Hey you can disagree with me. But come to the microphone 10 feet from me and let's have this dialogue.' The whole message of Charlie was, 'We better be able to talk to each other from differing viewpoints, otherwise it's going to lead to violence.'"

TMZ Live asked Chaffetz if he believes the practice of having civil dialogues between people with differing viewpoints is going away in America.

"That's what Charlie Kirk was doing. That's why I think this is so devastating. I've been in politics for longer than I care to remember now … and I worry that we've got to be able to talk to each other. We've got to be able to have in-person meetings. And now I'm just fearful that the idea of holding a political rally is just infeasible," he said.

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