Flanked by local and federal officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, on Thursday night Utah Gov. Spencer Cox had almost nothing new to share about the investigation into the murder of Charlie Kirk.
But he did express concerns about the spread of disinformation, and repeated earlier calls for help from the public in a terse, 9-minute press conference held in Orem, Utah.
It was immediately clear Thursday night’s update would include no new information, when it began with Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bo Mason discussing in detail the video and photos authorities had already released hours earlier.
The video, taken from two locations around the Utah Valley University campus from considerable distance away, show the suspect on the roof of the building from which the shot that killed Kirk was fired, before climbing down the building and quickly walking off campus. It’s difficult to make out identifying characteristics from those clips, but photographs clearly showed that the suspect is a tall, white male who appears to be in his 20s, wearing sunglasses, a black baseball cap, a black long sleeve t-shirt with an American flag on the front, and blue jeans.
After also walking through the physical evidence authorities made public on Thursday — a high-powered bolt action rifle found in the woods neighboring UVU, as well as a footwear impression and a palm print and forearm imprints on the roof of the building — Mason turned things back over to Gov. Cox.
Cox thanked federal law enforcement officers as well as the media, and among other things said that in response to their earlier request for help from the public in identifying the suspect, they have received more than 7,000 phoned-in tips.
Mid-way through his remarks, Cox also alluded to the increasingly violent online rhetoric — almost exclusively from right wing figures — as well as reports of purported details about the investigation that turned out not to be true, urging calm and warning of disinformation.
“There is a tremendous amount of disinformation we are tracking… our team, the state team, and I’m sure the federal team as well. What we’re seeing is our adversaries want violence,” Cox said. “China, we have bots from Russia, China, all over the the world, that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence. I would encourage you to ignore those, to turn off those streams and spend a little more time with with our families. We desperately need some healing.”
Also discussed during Thursday night’s press conference was the FBI Salt Lake City tip form, and the $100,000 reward offered for information leading to the suspect’s arrest. Cox also reiterated that they will seek the death penalty.
No one else spoke during the press conference.
Kirk died Wednesday afternoon shortly after he was shot from around 200 yards away by a single bullet that penetrated his neck, during a speaking event at UVU.
Despite the widespread description of Kirk’s death as political violence, aside from the video and photographs of the suspect, nothing is known about the shooter or his motivations. However, because of the nature of the crime — the only shot fired was the one that killed Kirk — authorities believe he was the intended target.
Donald Trump plans to give Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.
