President Donald Trump revealed Thursday that a suspect in the deadly shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been taken into custody. In his remarks to Fox News, Trump indicated the arrest had occurred because “somebody very close to him turned him in.”
Although officials have not officially reported the arrest, Trump said he was “a high degree of certainty” that the suspect was in law enforcement custody. The President’s statement marks the possible end to the frantic manhunt following the assassination of his longtime friend.
Assassination On Tape
Charlie Kirk, age 31, was shot on Wednesday during an address to a group at Utah Valley University. The blatant, daylight shooting was caught on several videos that have since appeared everywhere online. The videos capture a solitary gunshot ringing out while Kirk took questions on gun violence. Kirk can be seen holding his neck as blood flows from the wound before he falls.
Police investigators suspect that a single shot was fired from the roof of a building close by with a Mauser 30-06 bolt-action rifle, from which the rifle was later discovered in an area of woods close to the campus. Palm prints suspected to be from the suspect were also discovered at the scene by the authorities.
Suspect Identified With Public’s Help
The FBI previously made public a “person of interest” in the investigation through photos and video, a male in his twenties or lower thirties with a black baseball cap, dark glasses, and a long-sleeved American flag-patterned shirt. The images showed the suspect running rapidly across a rooftop before vanishing into a neighborhood area. The public posting of the images and offering a $100,000 reward for tips resulted in more than 7,000 tips, FBI Director Kash Patel said.