More Than 7,000 Tips Provided to Kirk Assassination Investigation
More than 7,000 tips were provided to the investigation by the day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus on Wednesday. The FBI has not received that much help from the public since the Boston Marathon bombings.
Federal and state authorities asked for tips following Wednesday’s assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, and the public complied. Thursday night, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said more than 7,000 leads and tips have been provided.
“I would just note that the FBI hasn't received this many digital media tips from the public since the Boston Marathon bombing,” the governor said during a Thursday-night press conference. “We have an incredible team, a state and federal team working together to process those tips. We're going out in tandem to interview any potential person of interest or suspects.”
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Cox said more than 20 federal and state law enforcement partner agencies are involved in the investigation and search for the assassin.
The governor said the state has been working with its attorneys and getting everything ready to pursue the death penalty in this case.
During the same briefing, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason shared videos and photos collected by the investigation. The images show what appears to be a college-aged male who is suspected of having fired the shot that killed Kirk, 31, while he was speaking at Utah Valley University.
The suspect was dressed in a black t-shirt, black pants, a ball cap with a triangle in front, a pair of sunglasses, and a backpack. Investigators also think he was wearing Converse shoes. Trace evidence collected from the rooftop scene included shoe impressions, a forearm imprint, and a palm print, according to the FBI.
As a video was played, Mason explained how it showed the suspected gunman dropping down from the roof of the building where officials say the shot was fired. He then walks away, crosses a street, and heads toward a wooded area where investigators found a bolt-action rifle with the spent casing still in the chamber and four additional rounds in the magazine.
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International Bots & Disinformation
Cox shared his concern about people spending so much time online, on their phones, following Wednesday’s assassination.
“I think Charlie said it best that when things get bad, we should put our phones down and spend a little time with our families,” the governor shared.
He also said there is a “tremendous amount of disinformation” being spread online, and it is being tracked by state and federal officials.
“What we're seeing is our adversaries want violence. We have bots from Russia, China, all over the world, that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence,” Cox explained. “I would encourage you to ignore those, to turn off those streams and spend a little more time with our families. We desperately need some healing.”
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