Breaking News: Suspect in Charlie Kirk Killing Captured, According to President Trump
President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the suspect in the Charlie Kirk killing has been captured. In a live interview on Fox News, Trump stated, “With a high degree of certainty, we have him.” The suspect was reportedly turned in by a minister who is also involved with law enforcement. Trump added, “Somebody that was very close to him said, ‘Hmm, that’s him.'” Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was killed by a single shot on Wednesday in what police described as a targeted attack.
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by Turning Point at Utah Valley University at the time of the shooting. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead hours later. Authorities recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle near the scene and had said the shooter jumped off a roof and vanished into the woods after the shooting. Federal investigators and state officials had released photos and a video of the person they believed was responsible, and more than 7,000 leads and tips had poured in.
Investigation and Reaction
The attack, which was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media, has drawn swift bipartisan condemnation. Democratic officials joined Trump and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the attack, which unfolded during a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties. Trump said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, visited with Kirk’s family on Thursday in Salt Lake City. Vance posted a remembrance on X, chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s Senate run and the 2024 election. Kirk’s casket was flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Phoenix, where his nonprofit political youth organization, Turning Point USA, is based. Trump told reporters he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral, although details have not been announced.
Kirk’s Background and the Shooting
Kirk was a conservative provocateur who became a powerful political force among young Republicans and was a fixture on college campuses, where he invited sometimes-vehement debate on social issues. The debate hosted by Turning Point at the Sorensen Center on campus was billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour.” The event generated a polarizing campus reaction, with an online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing receiving nearly 1,000 signatures.
Some attendees who bolted after the gunshot rushed into two classrooms full of students, using tables to barricade the door and to shield themselves in the corners. Someone grabbed an electric pencil sharpener and wrapped the cord tightly around the door handle, then tied the sharpener to a chair leg. Kathleen Murphy, a longtime resident who lives near the campus, said she has been staying inside with her door locked, worried about the shooter not being caught yet.
Flags, candles and signs sit at a vigil for Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was shot and killed, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
People place lit candles below a photo of Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was shot and killed, at a vigil in his memory, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
This undated combination of images provided provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP)
Vice President JD Vance, right, Second Lady Usha Vance, center, and Erika Kirk, holding a cross on a chain, deplane Air Force Two, carrying the body of Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was shot and killed, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
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