Chaos at Utah college: Manhunt continues for Charlie Kirk’s killer after earlier person of interest released

The manhunt for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killer continues after he was fatally shot while he was speaking at a political event on a Utah college campus, according to the FBI.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on X an earlier “subject” who was being questioned has since been released.

“The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency,” Patel said.

Chaos unfolded at Utah Valley University in the north-central city of Orem Wednesday afternoon after Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the MAGA youth organization Turning Point USA, was fatally shot in the neck.

Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was hosting a question and answer event with students as part of his organization’s “American Comeback Tour,” which had just kicked off, when a single shot was fired.

Trump said Kirk was dead in a tribute on Truth Social.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” the president wrote. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

He later said in an Oval Office address he was “filled with grief and anger.”

“Charlie inspired millions, and tonight all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror.”

Trump blamed “those on the radical left” for comparing “wonderful Americans” like Kirk to “Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.”

“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”

Graphic footage circulating on social media showed the moment Kirk was hit by the bullet, bleeding heavily before he fell backward in his chair, in front of a horrified student audience.

Local, state and federal authorities launched a search for the suspect, according to Orem Mayor David Young.

Here’s everything we know about the shooting so far:

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• Source of information and images “independent”“