First image released of person of interest in Charlie Kirk assassination

The first image has been shared.

Charlie Kirk died yesterday (10 September) after he was shot in the neck during an event at a Utah university.

Shots were fired at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem where the 31-year-old was speaking.

CNN reported that Kirk was answering a question about transgender mass shooters in America.

At 12:25 local time, a “single shot rang out in the quad near the food court on the Utah Valley University Orem Campus as Mr. Charlie Kirk began speaking at his planned rally,” Scott Trotter, senior director of Public Relations at Utah Valley University in Orem, told the BBC.

It was later confirmed that Kirk had died following his injuries.

Now, an image of a 'person of interest' has been shared by officials.

Utah's department of public safety released a statement along with the images. 

They say: "We are seeking the public's help in identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University."

Kirk had been taking questions from the audience at the moment he was shot.

A member of the crowd had asked Kirk: “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?”

“Too many,” he replied.

The audience member followed up, asking, “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk replied just before he is shot in the neck.

Before this news was released, the FBI had issued a major update during a recent press conference in which the bureau confirmed they had recovered the rifle used in the assassination.

They also confirmed that the shooter was of college age, but was still at large.

Commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, Beau Mason, released a statement about the ongoing investigation.

He said: "We were able to track the movements of the shooter starting at 11:52 am.

"We have tracked his movements onto the campus through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof, to a shooting location.

"After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building and fled, off of the campus and into a neighbourhood."

Shortly after it was confirmed that Kirk had died, videos began circulating online showing what appears to be the suspected shooter on top of a roof lying down.

One video shows what looks like someone lying down with the person filming being heard saying "there's somebody on the roof right there... he just ran from over there".

The person filming is pointing in the direction of a stairwell coming up to the roof.

It is still uncertain at what exact time the video was filmed.

The person who uploaded the video to social media site X said it was "right before everything happened".  

Sky News estimated that, from footage of the video, the person was on the fourth floor of a university building called the Losee Center.

The news site estimated that the alleged person would have been around 135m from Charlie Kirk when he was shot.

A second video shows a silhouette of a person on top of a roof taken moments after Kirk was shot.

It shows what appears to be a person stand and walk away from the roof's edge.

The news of Kirk's death was announced last night by Donald Trump who took to Truth Social to confirm the news.

The US president said: "The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. 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!"

Video footage circulating online shows the moment of the shooting. Kirk can be seen under a white ten emblazoned with the words “THE AMERICAN COMEBACK” and “PROVE ME WRONG”, surrounded by students.

A fervent Trump supporter, Kirk was best known for founding Turning Point USA which seeks to spread conservative ideas to students on US campuses. With millions of followers, he was one of the biggest conservative influencers in the US.