Rifle found but killer still at large – DW – 09/12/2025

A day after blaming “the radical left” for the murder of Charlie Kirk, US President Donald Trump on Thursday urged supporters to respond peacefully to the conservative pundit’s death, calling him “an advocate of nonviolence.”

“That’s the way I’d like to see people respond,” Trump said.

He added that there had been “big progress” in the investigation of Kirk’s death, but he did not provide any additional details. A hunt for the perpetrator is ongoing.

“Hopefully we’ll have him, and we’ll deal with him very appropriately,” the president said. 

A service at the Pentagon marking the September 11, 2001, attacks was moved to the internal courtyard following the killing of activist Charlie Kirk.

The service was attended by US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.

The service is traditionally held near the Pentagon 9/11 memorial outside the building. But it was moved inside because of security concerns, according to the AP news agency, which cited a White House official.

The 9/11 remembrances are being held during a time of increased political tensions after Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a college in Utah.

DW’s Janelle Dumalaon has more on the pictures released by the FBI of a new person of interest.

FBI officials in Salt Lake City released two pictures of someone wearing black long-sleeved shirt, hat and sunglasses they said was a “person of interest” in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The officials did not say whether the person depicted was the suspected shooter, but appealed to the public to share any information on the person’s indetity. 

The FBI also offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible for the shooting. 

The images were shared hours after the FBI said they recovered a bolt action rifle in a wooded area near the university campus they suspect was used in the shooting. The weapon and ammunition found nearby will be analyzed for clues.

Conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk was “fully affiliated” with the Trump MAGA movement, supporting many right-wing political positions and conspiracy theories. DW spoke with Georg Loefflmann, a lecturer on US foreign policy, about the possible fallout of the shooting. 

Charlie Weimers, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the nationalist Sweden Democrats, requested that Speaker Roberta Metsola allow a minute of silence to honor Charlie Kirk. 

Weimers tried to observe the tribute by yielding his speaking time on the floor, but he was cut short by the session chair and told that the request had been denied for procedural reasons, according to the AFP news agency. 

Other MEPs from his party protested, banging on their desks, while most of the other lawmakers applauded the chair’s intervention.

French MEP Nathalie Loiseau posted on X that Kirk “didn’t deserve to die.”  

“Whether he deserves to be honored by our parliament is another story,” she said, linking to past social media posts by Kirk assailing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, said it “condemns all forms of violence, and we offer our sincere sympathies to the families of the victims.”

US President Donald Trump announced that he would posthumously award conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people,” Trump told audience during a ceremony at the Pentagon marking the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Robert Bohls, the top FBI agent in Utah’s capital Salt Lake City, has said that authorities recovered a high-powered bolt-action rifle, which they believe to be the weapon used in the Charlie Kirk shooting. 

The weapon was found in “a wooded area where the shooter had fled.”

Bohls added that  “we have images of the suspect,” and that “this was a targeted event.”

“We’re doing everything we can to find him, and we’re not sure how far he has gone yet, but we will, we will do our best,” the agent said.

The shooter “appears to be of college age” and “blended in” with the college population on the Utah Valley University campus, he added. 

Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said authorities “have good video of this individual” and are “working through some technologies and some ways” to identify the suspect.

Robert Bohls, the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau’s Salt Lake City office, said at a news conference this morning that agents recovered “a high-powered bolt action rifle” in “a wooded area where the shooter had fled.” The FBI laboratory will analyze the weapon, Bohls said.

US Vice President JD Vance is set to visit Utah and meet Kirk’s family, according to a source familiar with the plans. 

Vance was initially planned to attend a ceremony in New York City marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks with his wife Usha Vance. 

Kirk’s killing is likely to prompt tighter security measures at the World Trade Center site amid tense political climate. 

Vance posted earlier on X a lengthy remembrance of their firendship, saying Kirk played a citicial role in setting up the second Trump administration.

“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Before the Utah campus event, Kirk had just returned to the US from an overseas speaking tour in South Korea and Japan.

He attended a conservative conference in Seoul last Friday, where he said men shifting toward conservativism “is occurring simultaneously across multiple continents.”

In Tokyo, Kirk spoke at a symposium hosted by the anti-immigration Sanseito party, which made its political breakthrough in a July upper house vote.

“I’m excited … to learn and to hopefully invigorate the people of your great nation to keep fighting this globalist menace,” Kirk said in an interview with a Sanseito lawmaker posted on YouTube before the event.

The conservative pundit also stirred controversy in Europe. 

Kirk went on a UK tour in May, debating students at Oxford and Cambridge universities and appearing on conservative media talk shows. He claimed that he saw a cafe where “every single table was taken by a Mohammed and a fully burqa-wearing woman — not a single native Brit.”

He also went to Greenland with Donald Trump Jr., and later said Greenlanders should “disconnect from their Danish masters” and fall under US rule instead. 

On his podcast, Kirk backed a speech by JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference, where the US vice president said freedoms were declining in Europe. 

“German prosecutors say someone can be locked up if they insult someone online,” Kirk said. “Free speech is not a German value. Totalitarianism is a German value.”

Although investigators have not yet named a motive, Utah Governor Spencer Cox has called Kirk’s killing a political assassination.

The shooting marks the latest instance of political violence in the US.

It comes after Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, was killed along with her husband in June by a gunman who authorities said had a manifesto and a list of other lawmakers and potential targets. 

US President Donald Trump himself survived two assassination attempts last year. The trial of the suspect in the second attempt was due to begin on Thursday. 

Reuters news agency says it recorded more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts across the ideological spectrum since supporters of Trump attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “appalled by the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

“There is no justification for political violence and every act of it threatens democracy,” he said. 

Separately, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed the importance of freedom of speech.

“We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear — there can be no justification for political violence,” Starmer wrote on X. 

Both Democrats and Republicans condemned the shooting as an act of political violence.

“Political violence has no place in America. This shooting is horrifying, and I’m praying for Charlie Kirk and his family,” Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X. 

Former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama called for an end to political attacks, saying separately they would pray for Kirk’s family. Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among the other Democrats who condemned the attack.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune posted: “There is no place in our country for political violence. Period, full stop. Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said: “Political violence has become all too common in American society. This is not who we are. It violates the core principles of our country.”

Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also all paid tribute to Kirk.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed that Kirk’s death was “the result of the international hate campaign waged by the progressive-liberal left.”

“This is what led to the attacks on [Slovak Prime Minister] Robert Fico, on [Czech former premier] Andrej Babis, and now on Charlie Kirk,” Orban said.  

“We must stop the hatred! We must stop the hate-mongering left!”

Investigators are yet to name a possible motive behind the shooting.