Charlie Kirk shooting latest: FBI shares photos of person of interest and offers reward for information | Charlie Kirk shooting

The FBI is offering a reward of up to a staggering $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

It follows the Salt Lake City FBI field office sharing pictures of a person of interest in the shooting.

Anna Betts

Asked about the rumors of engravings on the ammunition and rifle apprehended in the investigation into Kirk’s fatal shooting, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the Guardian: “ATF cannot comment on this since it is still an active investigation.”

in Orem, Utah

Campus remained dead silent throughout the sunny Thursday morning, with roads blocked off and law enforcement and media outnumbering civilians. Caution tape blocked off the amphitheater at Utah Valley University where Kirk was shot. His “Prove Me Wrong” pop up canopy tent was still standing, and students personal belongings, from backpacks to water bottles, were strewn throughout the stand, left on the ground mid escape.

Three historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been targeted with threats to their campuses.

Virginia State University and Alabama State University have closed their campuses, while Hampton State University has cancelled all classes until 12 September, and advised students living off-campus to enter school grounds.

None of the universities provided further details of the threats in their statements.

On the steps of the Capitol today, Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace, a vocal conservative and Trump ally from South Carolina, said that she “will not be doing any outdoor events anytime soon”.

“I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat, any elected official across the country, if you are vocal, your life is at risk,” Mace added.

The representative said “the left owns what happened” to Kirk, shortly after he was shot and killed at campus event on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters today Mace said that she was “deeply concerned” for her safety.

“You guys in the press call me the most transphobic member of congress. Turns out, there were transgender, anti-fascist things that were engraved in the ammunition and in the rifle that was apprehended,” she added, referring to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, which cites an internal law-enforcement bulletin and a person familiar with the ongoing investigation.

The Salt Lake City FBI field office has shared pictures of a person of interest in the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

Two pictures posted on X show a person in black sunglasses, a baseball cap, a long sleeved black shirt and jeans.

The FBI is asking for the public’s help identifying the person in connection with the attack at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

Within hours of Charlie Kirk being shot dead at a college event in Utah, he’d been turned into a far-right martyr in the US’s raging culture war. Many prominent rightwing voices and influencers quickly characterized his murder, in no uncertain terms, as an act of war from the left – and have vowed to respond in kind.

“We have to have steely resolve,” said conservative political strategist Steve Bannon on his show War Room. “Charlie Kirk is a casualty of war. We are at war in this country. We are.”

Even as the suspect – and any information about their motivations or political leanings – remained at large and unknown, incendiary rhetoric from major political commentators spread rapidly online, blaming leftist violence for Kirk’s death. Many called for swift retribution in the form of an aggressive crackdown against their political enemies.

“If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is to fight or die,” wrote Elon Musk on X.

“They are at war with us, whether we want to accept it or not. What are we gonna do about it?” Fox News host Jesse Watters said on air Wednesday night. “Everybody’s accountable… the politicians, the media, and all these rats out there. This can never happen again. It ends now. This is a turning point and we know which direction we’re going.”

“We are up against demonic forces from the pit of Hell,” wrote commentator and podcaster Matt Walsh on X. “This is existential. A fight for our own existence and the existence of our country.”

While all three living former presidents released statements addressing Kirk’s death, condemning political violence while calling for calm, introspection and civility, Donald Trump put out a video statement Wednesday night saying that rhetoric from “the radical left” was “directly responsible for the terrorism we are seeing in our country today”.

Speaking to reporters after his remarks at the Pentagon today, Donald Trump confirmed that he would speak to Charlie Kirk’s family “later this afternoon”.

“You don’t replace a Charlie Kirk. He was unique,” the president added.

In a post on X, the deputy secretary of state Chris Landau has said that he’s directed consular officials to “undertake appropriate action” against any “foreigners who glorify violence and hatred”.

He added that he’s “been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light” of Kirk’s assassination.

Notably, Landau said consular officials would also be monitoring his post to crowd source submissions from users who see posts that aren’t in line with the department’s views.

Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff, has said there is “an ideology at war with family and nature”, following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The shooter remains at large, and has not been identified.

Regardless, Miller insinuated that the killer subscribed to “an ideology that looks upon the perfect family with bitter rage while embracing the serial criminal with tender warmth”.

He added that “the fate of millions depends upon the defeat of this wicked ideology”.

Anna Betts

Following his tribute to Kirk, Trump shifted his remarks at the Pentagon to the events of 9/11.

“That terrible morning, 24 years ago, time itself stood still,” Trump said. “The laughter of school children fell silent, the rush of our traffic came to an absolute halt, and for 2,977 innocent souls and their families, their entire world came crashing down.”

“Today, as one nation, we renew our sacred vow that we will never forget September 11, 2001,” Trump said, before reading some of the final words exchanged by passengers aboard the hijacked airplanes that day to their loved ones.

“In America, we take blows, but we never buckle, we bleed, but we do not bow, and we defy the fear, endure the flames and emerge from the crucible of every hunch and stronger, prouder and greater than ever before” Trump said.

“Last year, we were a dead country” Trump said, adding that “now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.”

He also referenced his decision to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War.

“If you attack the United States of America, we will hunt you down, and we will find you” Trump said. “We will crush you without mercy, and we will triumph without question, that’s why we named the former Department of Defense the Department of War.”

“Everybody wanted it” Trump added. “Everybody is so happy to have it back.”

Thursday’s observance ceremony at the Pentagon commemorated the 184 lives lost when the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.