The FBI office in Salt Lake City, Utah, has posted two images of a “person of interest” in the killing of Charlie Kirk, a conservative American activist and influential ally of US President Donald Trump who was shot dead at a university event in Utah in an apparent targeted assassination.
He was speaking at a debate at Utah Valley University when authorities say a shooter fired a single round from a rooftop. Videos show Kirk reaching up with his right hand as blood gushed from the left side of his neck.
It remains unclear who carried out the deadly shooting or what the motive is. Utah Governor Spencer Cox called the killing a “political assassination”.
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There was initial confusion over the manhunt for Kirk’s killer with FBI Director Kash Patel posting the “subject” had been detained – before walking that back an hour later.
Kirk’s killing is the latest example of political violence in the US. It is spanning a range of political ideologies and affecting both major political parties.
Experts warn of accelerating political violence in US
The killing of Charlie Kirk has again underscored rising political violence in the US, according to experts in the field.
Mike Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland, which has tracked such violence in a database since 1970, said the first six months of 2025 saw about 150 politically-motivated attacks. That’s about double during the same period last year, he told Reuters news agency.
Attacks this year included the killing of two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota in June.
Last year, Reuters identified at least 300 cases of political violence across the US between the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters and the 2024 presidential election, marking the most significant and sustained surge in such violence since the 1970s.
The violence included two assassination attempts against Trump.
FBI offers $100,000 reward for information leading to arrest of suspect
The US domestic intelligence and law enforcement agency has asked the public for assistance in identifying the potential perpetrator of the attack, offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the identification and arrest of those responsible.
“The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah,” the agency said in a social media post.
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