Photos of Charlie Kirk Sniper ‘Person of Interest’ Released

The FBI has just released this photo of. a person of interest in connection with. the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk. from yesterday. And this comes as they. provided new updates and evidence today. as they raced to find this assassin. The. conservative influencer was in the. middle of debating a member of the. public during an outdoor event at Utah. Valley University when a single bullet. ripped through his neck. Chaos, confusion, a shot that has been heard. around the world. We are going to break. down what we just heard with former FBI. and CIA agent Tracy Walder. Welcome to.

Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. [Music]. Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Turning. Point USA, a stalwart friend to some of. the most well-positioned people in our. government, and yes, a controversial. online presence with millions of. followers, is dead at the age of 31. This is a dark day for our country. I. talked about this on social media. yesterday. I'm going to say it again. We.

cover some of the worst evils in this. country almost daily. And I was still. sickened and shocked and disgusted by. what I saw yesterday. And I just tell. everybody out there, please think about. and pray for Charlie Kirk's family and. friends because they are now left with. the new reality of pain and loss and. confusion that victim's family members. deal with every day in this country. This married father of two, he is. credited with rallying young Republican.

voters during the 2024 presidential. election. He had this famous debate. style events at colleges around the. country, drawing praise from some, criticism from others, and this was his. final one. It was during one of those. college events on Wednesday that Kirk. was shot and killed. And again, we are. about to get into what the FBI just. said, but it appears based on their. comments that this may be a lone gunman, a lone gunman who was at top a roof near. the heart of Utah Valley University's. campus in Orum. And we are learning.

again new details about that shooter. right now from public safety officials. and the FBI. We are going to show you. the brand new press footage. And I'm. going to be bringing on former FBI and. CIA agent Tracy Walder to break down. what these new developments mean, the. potential evidence, how they're going to. analyze it. Are we closer to actually. catching the suspected shooter? We'll. talk about it, but here's what we know. You had event goers who were lined up in. an outdoor area to ask this conservative. activist questions. questions about. things like gun violence and gender.

identity and Kirk has this often, you. know, these answers that are booming. over a microphone at the quad. There's a. lot of political excitement there. Um, but again, controversial figure and the. New York Times reports that 3,000 people. had turned out to see Kirk speak as he. started another round of college tours. This one was called the American. Comeback. Now, Kirk was seated. underneath a canopy. He was surrounded. by these metal barricades with his own. personal security nearby. We can have a. separate conversation and maybe we will.

about potentially the lack of security. But as scene in videos that were posted. to social media, a member of the public. standing just a few feet away was. questioning Kirk about recent gun. violence in America. >> So, do you know how many transgender. Americans have been mass shooters over. the last 10 years? >> Too many. [Applause]. It's five. Okay. Now, five is a lot, right? I'm going to give you I'm going. to give you some credit. Do you do you. know how many mass shooters there have.

been in America over the last 10 years? >> Counting or not counting gang violence. >> And at that moment, there was the sound. of a single gunshot and Charlie Kirk. fell. If you've seen the videos online, they are awful. We have seen this video. It was taken by people in the crowd. It. shows the moment that a bullet literally. tore through Kirk's neck, sending him. sprawling to the ground. It is horrific. He was carried to a nearby vehicle. He. was rushed to the hospital. It was only.

a few miles away, but he was pronounced. dead. And Utah officials would later say. that they believe that this was a. targeted attack. One bullet, one victim. Now, people at the vent, they scattered. in all directions. They were screaming. They were falling over another. They. were falling over one another. They were. trying to figure out where the shots. were coming from and if more bullets. would be fired. The shooter was. reportedly on the roof of a nearby. campus building, the Losi Center. It's. about 150 to 200 yards away from the. gathering on the quad and an unverified. video that was posted to social media.

It appears to show a person laying down. on top of the building. Now, law. enforcement has not confirmed this. video, nor have they said this figure on. the roof is the shooter. But let's talk. about what they did say. Okay, this is. new. So, Utah's Commissioner of Public. Safety and the FBI special agent in. charge of the investigation provided. brand new updates Thursday morning about. the gunman and that is what we want to. talk about right now. So, what have they. learned about him so far? How was he.

able to get away? Take a look. >> Through all that work last night, we. were able to make a few few. breakthroughs. Um, we were able to track. the movements of the shooter. Starting. at 11:52 a.m., the subject arrived on. campus, shortly away from campus. 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 as he moved to the.

other side of the building, jumped off. of the building, and fled um off of the. campus and into a neighborhood. Our. investigators have worked through those. neighborhoods, contacting anybody they. can with doorbell cameras, um, witnesses. and and have have thoroughly worked. through that those communities um, trying to identify any leads. We do have good video footage of this. individual. We are not going to release. that at this time. Uh, we are working.

through some technologies and some some. ways to identify this individual. If we. are unsuccessful, we will reach out to. you as the media and we will push that. publicly to help us identify them. But. we are confident in our abilities right. now and we would like to move forward uh. in a manner that keeps everyone safe and. moves this process appropriately. >> And the FBI also revealed they found the. suspected murder weapon. >> This morning I can tell you that we have. recovered what we believe is the weapon. to be that was used in yesterday's.

shooting. is a high-powered bolt-action. rifle. That rifle was was recovered in a wooded. area where the shooter had fled. So, the. FBI laboratory will be analyzing this. weapon. Investigators have also collected. footwear impression, a palm print, and. forearm imprints for analysis. Now, I understand there are a lot of. questions about motive. I assure you that all leads, tips, and.

tips are being fully investigated. As of. this morning, we have received more than. 130 tips. We thank the community for. that. The FBI has brought every resource to. bear, and we will continue to do so. throughout the course of this. investigation. >> Also, this is just coming out from the. Wall Street Journal. They're reporting. that the ammunition that was used by. Charlie Kirk's killer, it may have been. engraved with transgender and. anti-fascist ideology. If that is true,

that makes a potential motivation for. this killing a lot more clear, but we. will see. We'll get more updates on. that. Now, while officials aren't. releasing very many details about the. shooter's identity, they implied that he. was able to blend in with a crowd on a. college campus. So, what I'll release. about the suspect is uh. suspect blended in well with with a. college institution. Um we're not. releasing many details right now and we. we will soon. Um but right now we're.

not, but that that individual um appears. to be of of college age. Um we are. confident in our abilities to to track. that individual if we're unsuccessful in. identifying them immediately. >> It's very very interesting. And the. public safety commissioner also pointed. out the importance of today's date, right, for American history, September. 11th, and how law enforcement is once. again coming together with one goal. >> Historically on 911, law enforcement has. come together as a group to recognize.

and honor those that sacrificed. to preserve the ideals of this country, the freedoms of this country. And. instead we find ourselves today hunting. a murderer. who chose to violate our rights, the. rights of an individual within this. country. >> Now again, I'm going to bring on Tracy. We're going to talk about what all this. means. But the FBI and other agencies, they are actively working to try to. track down this shooter. But there is.

misinformation. There is. misidentification. They have run it has. run rampant so far. And and just minutes. after the shooting, there were details. that started circulating online about an. arrest. There were images on social. media showing an older man being hauled. away by multiple people. And soon, officials would put out a statement. saying that this man was not the. shooter. He was arrested. He was. arrested for obstruction, but he's not. the shooter. And then hours later, FBI. director Cash Patel posted on X,

formerly known as Twitter, that the. subject for the horrific shooting today. that took the life of Charlie Kirk, is. now in custody. But not long after that, the director kind of clarified, saying, "The subject in custody has been. released after an interrogation by law. enforcement. Our investigation. continues, and we will continue to. release information in the interest of. transparency." Now, the public safety. commissioner pointed out that those. people do not deserve to be targeted in. person or online. >> Yesterday, during the investigative. process, we located a couple of persons.

of interest. We interviewed those. individuals. and after releasing them and after. clearing them of any suspects. They faced scrutiny. They faced threats. We asked the public to be patient with. the investigative process. These. individuals were not suspects. they were. people of interest. Um, we ask that you. do not impose into those in those people. and that investigative process. They. don't deserve that harassment for for. being subject to that.

>> And that does make you wonder, is that. why they are not releasing video of the. suspected shooter. We're going to talk. about that. Now, there have been. makeshift memorials that have sprung up. on campus, and some people gathered at. the state capital in Salt Lake City to. remember Charlie Kirk. Others paid. tribute at Turning Point USA's. headquarters out in Arizona. President. Donald Trump, who was one of the first. people to confirm that Kirk had indeed. died, spoke from the Oval Office. Wednesday night. Charlie was a patriot. who devoted his life to the cause of.

open debate and the country that he. loved so much, the United States of. America. He fought for liberty, democracy, justice, and the American. people. He's a martyr for truth and. freedom. And there's never been anyone. who was so respected by youth. This is a. dark moment for America. Charlie Kirk. traveled the nation joyfully engaging. with everyone interested in good faith. debate. His mission was to bring young.

people into the political process, which. he did better than anybody ever, to. share his love of country and to spread. the simple words of common sense. On. campuses nationwide, he championed his. ideas with courage, logic, humor, and. grace. It's long past time for all. Americans and the media to confront the. fact that violence and murder are the. tragic consequence of demonizing those.

with whom you disagree day after day, year after year in the most hateful and. despicable way possible. My. administration will find each and every. one of those who contributed to this. atrocity and to other political. violence, including the organizations. that fund it and support it, as well as. those who go after our judges, law. enforcement officials, and everyone else. who brings order to our country. And by.

the way, the president just announced. that he is giving Charlie Kirk the Medal. of Freedom postuously. Tributes have. also poured in on social media. Political adviser Steven Miller posted. on X, "Our hearts are shattered. America. has lost one of its greatest champions. A loving family has lost the most. extraordinary husband and father. All of. us must now dedicate ourselves to. defeating the evil that stole Charlie. from this world." Again, FBI director. Cash Patel, who was close with Kirk, wrote on his personal exac account, "Rest in peace, my friend. Conservative.

titan Charlie Kirk. I am praying for. Charlie and his family. His passion for. American and fearless leadership. inspired millions and his impact will. live on in this movement for. generations. Former President Barack. Obama posted on X. We don't yet know. what motivated the person who shot and. killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of. despicable violence has no place in our. democracy. Michelle and I will be. praying for Charlie's family tonight, especially his wife Erica and their two. young children. And as people were. fleeing the school, armed law. enforcement officers, they were pouring.

in. They were going from building to. building to help escort people to. safety. And just before 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, school officials gave the. all clear, saying there is no ongoing. threat to the campus. Utah Valley. University announced that classes were. cancelled, that the school will be. closed until at least Monday. You know, we've been on top of the story from the. very, very beginning. And we're able to. do that, by the way, because of our. sponsor Morgan and Morgan, America's. largest injury law firm. A firm with. over a thousand attorneys. You know why. they're so big? Because they win a lot.

They have recovered over $25 billion for. more than 500,000 clients. Think about. that. In the past few months, a client. in Florida received $12 million after. the insurance company offered just. $350,000. Out in Pennsylvania, a client. was awarded $26 million. That is 40. times the insured $650,000 offer. You. have another client Pennsylvania who. received $29 million after being offered. only $500,000. And even if you think. your case isn't worth millions of. dollars, why not just start a claim and. fight for what you deserve? Morgan and.

Morgan. They make it so simple. You can. start a claim from your phone in just. eight clicks. So, if you're injured, you. can easily start a claim at for the. people.com/lcsidebar. by clicking the link below or scanning. the QR code on screen. Okay, so I want to break down what all. of this means. This presser just ended. and we're bringing on right now former. CIA and FBI agent, friend of the show, Tracy Walder. Tracy, thank you so much. for coming on. really appreciate it. So,

let's just talk about what we heard here. from this presser. They were able to. track the movements of the shooter, saying that the shooter arrived on. campus at 11:52, tracking the movements through the. stairwell to the roof. They find the. shooting location, saying the shooter. jumped off the building after the. shooting, fled into the neighborhood, that they start canvasing the. neighborhood, looking for doorbell. footage, uh contacting anyone that has. footage. They have confirmed they have.

video footage of the shooter, but they. are not going to release it and they are. working on ways to ID this person. Before we go any further into the. revelations from this press conference, let's start there. What do you make of. that police work and what what can we. glean from that? >> Well, thank you so much for having me. Obviously, it's relatively quick police. work in my opinion. I said yesterday. that this was going to be a bit of a. cumbersome process in a way. And I don't. mean this in a bad way. You have too. much digital evidence. You have 3,000. college students, not all, but you have.

3,000 college students who all have. phones, all have videos. You have CCTV. probably all over the school. That takes. a long time to go through. So, what that. tells me is it was probably all hands on. deck, obviously, most of yesterday and. then into today to review that footage. Also, what's interesting to me is it. sounds just if he arrived at campus or. the shooter arrived at campus at 11:52. as they said in the press conference. that this person was actually not laying. in weight all that long. I mean, they.

they were laying in wait a bit, but not. we're not talking hours or anything like. that. And so, this is someone that knew. obviously what was going to take place. on the campus that day. knew, in my. opinion, probably studied Charlie, how. he spoke, how long he answered questions. for um and was really prepared um in. what they were doing, >> but also knew where Charlie was going to. be positioned and knew exactly where to. go. Like the idea of that roof 200 yards.

away, set up a position, that was. planned. That that's what's eerie about. it. It it doesn't I mean again we're. just trying to take it piece by piece. here but it doesn't seem that someone. showed up and tried to figure out. where's the best place to go. This feels. very quick and very coordinated um and. very planned. >> Oh yeah, there's no question. And I said. that yesterday actually on on NewsNation. that I think this took quite a bit of. planning in my opinion. Um because the. reality is I think they knew where the. event would take place simply because it.

had been promoted beforehand. Um and. they probably knew that that would be. that I guess what they're calling. fishbowl gathering place. So kind of. think Las Vegas mass shooting. That also. was sort of a fishbowl situation if you. will. And they knew that he would. probably be covered a bit with that. pop-up tent. that's what he does tend to. do in those outside settings, um, if you. will. I believe this is a person that I. do think if they go back had been on. campus before, in my opinion, um, and. had probably scoped out some of the.

buildings that they felt would be the. best and the most opportune to take that. shot. I. >> I'll get to this weapon that apparently. they recovered in a second, but what are. the what's the technology? what is the. ways they can work to ID this potential. shooter from video footage? >> So, there's a couple ways. There's. obviously facial recognition technology. Now, I don't know um how good it is with. CCTV or with the Ring doorbell cameras, right? I I am not sure how clear of a.

picture they have of this individual. But one thing you also can do, and they. actually did this with Manion that you. brought up before, was menstruate this. individual. How tall are they? Approximately how much do they weigh? You can actually glean all of that. information from video footage, even. CCTV video footage, which isn't good. >> Okay, let's talk about this weapon. They. announced they've recovered a weapon, a. boltaction rifle found in a wooded area. where this alleged shooter had escaped. They are, the FBI announced they are.

analyzing this weapon. A Are you. surprised that seems to be the weapon, the suspected murder weapon here? a. bolt-action rifle based on what we saw. and what we heard yesterday. B the fact. of where it was recovered and why it was. ultimately discarded and c um how do. they analyze the weapon? >> So, I'm I'm actually not surprised that. it was found. That would be the first. thing quite frankly that someone in a. situation like this would do. A. bolt-action rifle isn't something that. you're obviously going to be able to. conceal um and run around with, right?

Anyone would be sort of picking you off. if they if they saw that. I'm not. surprised. I said initially based on the. sound that this was probably a rifle of. some sort. I didn't even need to see it. um to to hear that. It was pretty clear. um in my opinion what kind of weapon. this was. I'm not at all surprised it. was discarded. I don't know how much. evidence they're really going to get off. of it. Again, as we talked about before, this person was very prepared. I I feel. they probably had gloves on in some way, shape, or form. Probably had a hat on. Any hair uh was out of the way. So, I'll.

be surprised if it's fruitful uh in. terms of identifying the individual, but. obviously it would be used later at a. trial or something like that. >> So, in other words, you you are hesitant. to say they might be able to recover. fingerprints from the weapon. However, can they find out where it was. registered to? Can they find out who. purchased it? >> Sure. Obviously, all of that is in play. Of course, I I'm just being honest. I. would be very surprised if someone we. talked about this of this kind of. planned nature, right? scoping out the.

school, the situation, all of those. things would use a weapon that was. registered to them or didn't have the. serial number already removed. Now, again, it's great when criminals make. mistakes. So, maybe that is on there, but I would have thought that that would. have been one of the first things they. would have done was either remove the. serial number or use a weapon that was. stolen and not registered. The. boltaction rifle is just is that tough. to fire? If we're talking about firing. it from a roof about 200 yards away, shooting Charlie Kirk in the neck, is.

that a tough shot? Is is are you saying. there has to be a level of training um. or what should we be thinking about in. terms of this weapon? >> Yeah, I've been asked that question. actually um a lot. Uh I think we want to. think that this is some kind of a. trained assassin. You know, maybe we see. that in movies and that's something that. we we want to see. Um, but the reality. is is a 200 yard shot, which is about. what this is. Again, I don't have the. exact data, but a 200 yard shot. Um, I I. believe he was probably aiming for the. head, came in a little bit low, but.

again, I don't know for sure. >> This is someone who is familiar. obviously with weapons. There's no. question. I don't think if you've never. held a weapon before, you would be able. to do that. But this is someone that. probably had a scope attached, had been. sitting there for a few minutes, got the. target in their sights, and got off that. shot. So, I think it's someone who is. moderately to highly familiar with. weapons, but not some kind of a a. trained assassin. Now, if you were. talking about 600 yards or more, sure, but I don't feel that that's far enough.

for this to be some kind of a. sharpshooter. >> Is a bolt-action rifle common? Do a lot. of people own these? >> Yeah, I mean, I would I would say again, it depends on the area, right? I think. if you're living in the middle of New. York City, right, or or Los Angeles, no. But, um, this is Oram, Utah. There is. wilderness. There are hunters. There are. right there is a culture surrounding. guns. I live in Texas. People have. these. So I think it just depends to be. completely honest with you um on where. they live. >> Okay. They also indicated that they have.

recovered a footwear impression, a palm. print, a forearm printer impression. Where I I how do they recover that? What. do they do with that information? How do. they ultimately process that to. determine the identity of those people. of that person? So, the footprint is. going to be very similar to what we saw. in the Brian Cobberger, Idaho case. Obviously, they're going to photograph. it. They may even cast it, right, to get. an actual impression um of that. footprint and save it. Then, once they.

The problem is is, let's just say it's a. Nike footprint. There are millions of. people that own Nikes. And so, that's. going to be something that might not. help them immediately identify the. individual, but may help them actually. convict this individual if they find. them and find that exact shoe print. So. that's going to be good for evidence. later in terms of obtaining a. conviction. Now a palm print obviously. is not the same as a fingerprint, right? It's not as there may not be a database. registered for that, but what they may. be able to recover off of that is DNA. And we know how great um obviously.

genealogical DNA has been uh in terms of. identifying someone. So if this is not. someone in the system, they may be able. to do that with a palm print. And when. they say that this is a person who. blended in well with the college. institution, what does that tell you? >> I mean, what that tells me, I believe, and I said this yesterday, that this. person had every intention of using the. college as cover for themselves. I mean, full stop. So, what that tells me is. this is someone who at least looks like. they belong on a college campus. So,

we're talking 18 to maybe later 20s. U. may not be, but looks that way. um. someone who really wouldn't draw. necessarily attention to themselves. doesn't stick out uh in this situation. So someone saw this person walking, you. know, to this building uh if you will. We also have to think about the fact. that there could have been a change of. clothes afterwards. They said they saw. someone in all black clothing, you know, running away from that rooftop. This. could have been someone who came to the. college in, I guess, plain clothes, not. all black necessarily, and then changed.

out afterwards to disguise themselves. more. So, I think this is someone who. definitely looked like they belonged. there. >> If I remember correctly from the press. conference, they they said they got what. 130 tips. It's a lot. How do they sort. through it to determine what's credible? >> You know, it's I don't mean to sound uh. rude. It's a lot, but it's actually not. as many as I thought. If you want me to. be completely honest with you, Jesse, um. I actually thought that we would have. thousands uh simply because of the sheer. volume, right, of how many students were. there. Then you have a neighborhood,

right, with Ring doorbell cameras, all. of the things. You also have a public in. this area who is probably on high alert. and wants to help. And so I actually. thought we would be in the thousands if. you want me to be fully transparent. I'm. not saying 130 is low. That's good. That's a great place to start. I'm just. honestly surprised there's not more. >> Are you surprised the shooter hasn't. been caught? I mean, this was a very. public area. There wasn't a ton of. security, right? They talk about maybe. the lack of law enforcement, but they. were quick on the scene after the.

shooting. Um, 3,000 people there, everybody had cameras. Um, are you. surprised that the suspected shooter was. not caught yet? >> Yeah, that's a touchy subject because. yesterday I actually said uh on the news. when they said they had caught someone. and I think it was sort of an older. white male that they had on the ground, I actually said I do not believe that. this is the shooter. I believe it is too. quick uh to capture him and I believe. the shot came from the roof and everyone. piled on me um for that and so I am.

actually not surprised that they haven't. caught this individual. I think that. this was highly planned. This person. absolutely had an egress route and if. this shot did come from the roof, it's. not going to be someone who was able to. be caught immediately on the ground. exiting the scene. >> And I wanted your explanation about what. happened yesterday. Uh there were. reports about individuals who were. detained, they were let go. FBI director. Cash Patel uh saying that a subject was. in custody but released after.

interrogation. I think there was a lot of confusion. particularly online about where the day. was going to end. Can you explain that a. little bit more? >> I mean, I'm going to be completely. honest. This isn't like political in any. way. I would say this about any FBI. director. I do not believe that they. should be putting on social media until. they know for certain that this is. absolutely the individual because it. does create confusion around the public. and then what happens is people let. their guards down and you may miss other.

tips um legitimate tips of individuals. who really did perpetrate this. So I I. wasn't a huge fan of that but I. understand the need to want to arrest. someone who did this. When you think. about how the shooting happened, talking. about shootings, Charlie Kirk was. talking about shootings. The last word. that he said before he was shot was. violence. You see him get shot. Do you. think this is a situation where it was. one person acting alone or do you think.

it was coordinated and there was some. help? I mean, it we don't know at this. point. I've seen a lot of people talking. online about what may or may not have. happened. From your perspective, we. talked about how it might have been. planned. Would you suspect that there. could be multiple people involved? >> So, I think so, but not in the sense. that you may think, Jesse. So, what I. actually think is there are these um. well, they're from Telegram sub. channels, those kinds of things on. social media where individuals talk.

about this kind of thing and talk about. this kind of violence. So, I 100% think. that there were individuals in this chat. room assisting um this person, goating. this person on, wanting them to do it. because that absolutely exists in this. internet subculture. So, that's where I. think these accompllices came from and. that's what ultimately needs to be shut. down. >> Real quick, all the videos, all the. participants, does the FBI, does local. law enforcement, uh do they try to. interview all these people? Do they try.

to get all this footage? What happens? Yeah, that's a that's a tough one. because like we said before, this is. what 3,000ish. uh students and it's real difficult to. confiscate all of their cell phones, especially ones that ran away, right? So, my guess is what they're going to do. is anyone they came into contact with, they probably took their phones or asked. for their phones. Then also any video. that they're seeing being leaked online, shared online, shared on social media, they're going to find that and they're. going to find the person who did that. Not in a bad way, but they want that. video. And so I think those are the.

things um that they're probably doing. right now and yesterday. >> Tracy, before I let you go, before you. have to jump back to News Nation and uh. go and you're you're such a brilliant. voice on this. Um do you have confidence. that the shooter is going to be caught. within the next few days? >> Oh gosh, I would like to hope so. My only concern. is that this person has quite a bit of. hours of a head start. there is an. airport only 45 minutes away and if we. don't have a name on that individual. they actually could be out of the US um.

by this point and that becomes. complicated. So I'd say my confidence is. probably 60 65%. >> Uh Tracy listen thank you so much for. coming on. I mean literally this press. conference happened five minutes. It. ended five minutes before you came on. Always appreciate your insight. You can. check Tracy out uh online on NewsNation. She's a contributor there. Uh really. thank you so much for taking the time. We really really appreciate it. >> Thank you for having me Jesse. I really. appreciate it. >> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank.

you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcasts. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time. [Music].