Warning: Graphic scenes in video

OREM, Utah (AP) — On Thursday, authorities continued their search for a sniper responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and a close ally of President Donald Trump. Kirk was killed with a single bullet, after which the assailant vanished amid the ensuing chaos, marking another act of political violence in America.

Kirk was shot from a distant rooftop located at the Utah Valley University campus, where he had been speaking on Wednesday, authorities noted. Federal, state, and local officials were investigating what they termed “multiple active crime scenes.” As the search entered its second day, they disclosed minimal details regarding the shooter’s identity, motive, or whereabouts. They were also reviewing low-quality security footage of a person dressed in dark clothing.

“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” declared Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”

Two people were detained Wednesday, but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, public safety officials said.

This incident has highlighted the increasing threat of political violence across the United States in recent years, affecting various ideological groups. The assassination was universally condemned, yet achieving a broad consensus on strategies to prevent such politically driven violence appeared challenging.

Social media videos from Utah Valley University depict Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone beneath a white tent adorned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A gunshot is heard, and Kirk is seen clutching his neck with his right hand as blood pours from his left side. Shocked onlookers are heard gasping and screaming before the crowd begins to disperse.

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, planned to meet with Kirk’s family on Thursday in Salt Lake City. A source familiar with Vance’s itinerary, who was not authorized to discuss it publicly, revealed that the Vances would head to Utah instead of New York. They had initially intended to attend an outdoor ceremony there to commemorate September 11.

Vance posted a lengthy remembrance on X chronicling the origins of their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s run for the Senate and ultimately praying after hearing of the shooting. Through the years, Vance wrote, Kirk checked in and played a pivotal 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.”

Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, he was taking questions from an audience member about gun violence.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”

The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

Then a shot rang out.

The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.

Madison Lattin was watching only a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she heard the bullet hit him.

“Blood is falling and dripping down, and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety,” she said.

She said she saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. She ran while others splashed through decorative pools to get away. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede.

When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she wept, she said, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to be determined and fight for the truth.

Trump calls Kirk a ‘martyr for truth’

About 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.

Trump announced Kirk’s death on social media and praised the 31-year-old co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later, he released a recorded video from the White House in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom.”

Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated after the shooting, with officers escorting people to safety. The campus will be closed until Monday.

Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.

Wednesday’s event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

Condemnation from across the political spectrum

The shooting drew swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.

“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.

The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade in June to demand Hamas release hostages and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally last year.

Kirk confronted liberals

Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.

But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as an aide to Donald Trump Jr. during the general election campaign.

Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.