Sniper Suspect in Custody After 24-Hour Manhunt
US President Donald Trump has confirmed that the suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been taken into custody. The arrest follows a tense, 24-hour manhunt after Kirk was shot and killed during a public appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem.
“I think we have him,” Trump told Fox News in an interview Friday, revealing that someone who personally knew the suspect had turned him in. Federal authorities and local police had been searching intensively since Wednesday, after a single sniper bullet struck Kirk in the neck during a live event in front of 3,000 attendees.
Investigators recovered a high-powered bolt-action rifle believed to have been used in the shooting. Surveillance footage had earlier shown a person of interest dressed in black with a bald eagle emblem on his shirt, ascending a stairwell to reach the rooftop before firing. After the shot, the suspect reportedly leapt from the roof and escaped into a nearby neighbourhood.
Law enforcement also released surveillance footage showing the shooter sprinting across the rooftop and carefully lowering himself to the ground after the attack.
“In situations like this, someone close always notices — even a small tilt of the head that no one else would catch,” President Trump said during the interview.
Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative author, podcast host, and a close ally of Trump, was instrumental in growing the Republican Party’s influence among young voters.
Trump stated that the suspect was identified by people familiar with him and suggested that it was the suspect’s father who ultimately drove him to a police station and turned him in.
Kirk Remembered as Vocal Conservative Leader
Charlie Kirk, 31, was a prominent conservative voice, author, podcast host, and co-founder of Turning Point USA. He was touring US colleges as part of his “American Comeback Tour” and was answering a question on mass shootings when he was killed.
His death has prompted bipartisan condemnation of political violence. The FBI and state authorities described the shooter as a college-aged individual who “blended in well” on campus. Investigators are now analyzing palm prints, footprints, and the recovered weapon for further evidence.
President Trump announced that he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling the attack a “heinous assassination.” Kirk leaves behind a wife and two young children.
