A newly released video shows the suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk fleeing across the roof of a Utah Valley University building before leaping to the ground, officials announced Thursday night.
The footage, which was narrated by Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason during a press conference, comes as authorities intensify their manhunt for the unidentified gunman. Earlier images had shown the suspect wearing a shirt with an American flag and eagle emblem.
“The suspect remains unidentified,” Mason said, urging members of the public to contact law enforcement with any information that could help track him down.
The shooter, described by officials from the FBI and Utah Department of Public Safety as “college age,” opened fire on Kirk during a campus event Wednesday afternoon. Kirk was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died of his injuries, state officials confirmed.
Investigators said they recovered a “high-powered” bolt-action rifle and secured “good” video evidence of the assailant, who escaped campus by running across a rooftop, jumping down, and disappearing into a nearby neighborhood.
The killing sparked immediate outrage, including from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who demanded the firing of a Secret Service agent she accused of defending the assassination online.
In a post on X, Blackburn wrote that the agent suggested Kirk “deserved” to be assassinated in a Facebook post, prompting her to call on agency leadership to “immediately terminate his employment.”
“As our nation mourns the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk… I am calling for this agent’s immediate termination. It’s time to root out the rot in the Secret Service,” Blackburn posted.
In a letter to Director Sean M. Curran, Blackburn quoted portions of the controversial Facebook post: “if you are Mourning [sic] this guy… [sic] delete me. He spewed hate and racism on his show,” and “you can’t circumvent karma, [sic] she doesnt [sic] leave.”
Blackburn added that all Secret Service protectees — including President Donald Trump — “deserve nothing less,” stressing what she called the “importance of accountability.”
President Trump announced Thursday that he would award Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
