Sept. 11, 2025
BREAKING UPDATE: Manhunt intensifies for Charlie Kirk Assassin, FBI Releases First Images of Person Of Interest
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RSS Feed Amy and T.J. go through new details released today by police, including the “sniper” weapon they believe the shooter left behind after assassinating 31-year-old Charlie Kirk. Police initially hesitated to release a photo of the suspect, but now, they’re asking for the public’s help to identify the man, seen in the photos wearing a dark shirt, dark sunglasses, and baseball cap.
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00:00:01
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Thursday, September eleventh, and it has already been a day of developments in the Charlie Kirk assassination investigation. But as we speak, the assassin is still on the loose, and welcome to this edition of Amy and TJ and Rowe still on the loose. But after some back and forth, the police have made the decision to release images and we're just getting a look at that in the past few minutes.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: That's true, they did an about face about three hours in the making. So at nine am Eastern time, we heard police say that they did have images captured on CCTV around campus, but they weren't going to release it because they felt confident they were going to be able to find him through their own technology. But yes, fast forward a few hours later and they have released two images. That's how many I've seen of the suspected gunmen. And it's a pretty good image. You pretty good look at his face and certainly what he was wearing, and he didn't have a mask. He just had sunglasses on, a hoodie and a hat.
00:01:08
Speaker 1: And look, you can go out and you can look at the images and you will see them everywhere today as far as our description goes, looked like a white guy. Yeah. They did say earlier in the press conference they had this morning that the person blended in and was able to blend in with students. So I assume there might have been somebody who was college age, at least from my appearance. It looks sortaly could blend in, but looked like might've been a little older even.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: I mean, he looked to me, he looked like he was a kid in his twenties, A white guy in his twenties. That's what he looked like to me.
00:01:42
Speaker 1: It looked like as well, it looked like to you that one of the images is walking up maybe a staircase, getting somewhere. But yeah, and it couldn't make out quite the image on the shirt. It looked like it had an American flag that had been distorted in some way over an image, but you could make that out at least.
00:01:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a thin guy, and yes, definitely see an American flag on that. It wasn't a hoodie. Maybe it was just a long sleeve dark shirt, but yeah, I couldn't tell if it looked like even a firearm or some sort of a gabbl or some dark object over an American flag. I couldn't quite.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: Tell what it was, all right, So that is what we just got and we decided to hop on as soon as we saw those images and got that latest update. But the fact still remains here. We are twenty four hours after the shooting and killing of Charlie Kirk. The assassin is still on the loose. The killer is still on the loose. The police made clear they do not think anyone else is a target or is in danger from this person. They believe, yes, this was a singular event and Charlie Kirk was the intended target. So but that part the rest, but robes they started pretty early this morning. It was seven am out in Utah when they had this press conference to give us an update and pretty significant stuff, starting with first they think they got the weapon.
00:02:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they made it very clear and it was pretty obvious that law enforcement have been working throughout the night to try and figure out the movements of this gunman. And yes, they do believe they have the firearm that he used. But they were able to track his movements starting at eleven fifty two a m. Yesterday When they say that is the exact time they can document that he arrived on campus and then that picture that we see that they released looks like that is him going through a stairwell to get onto that roof of the building where they believe he set up and took aim at Charlie Kirk. But it's pretty remarkable they were able to kind of detail what he did and even detail his escape. They say he jumped off the building, fled campus and into a neighborhood and then into the woods. They were even asking and they've been asking people who live in that neighborhood for their doorbell cams, their ring camps, their security footage that they might have on their property to try and really just track his movement. But they do track him into these woods, and that is where they found the firearm.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: And we're looking here now. As I'm talking, I'm still looking at the images. And like you said, it was a long sleeve, dark T shirt. It's hard to make out, but you can tell the American flag distorted by something.
00:04:18
Speaker 2: Doesn't it kind of look like it Judge's gavel or a firearm. It's hard to make out. It's a little fuzzy.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: Surely he's changed closed behind. But they also were saying in that press conference robe. They don't know where he is, how far he has gotten, but as the time goes on, they certainly think he could be getting farther away. I was. We were both kind of taken aback. They say, we need help identifying We're using our own technology to identify this person based on the images we have, and the thought was, well, why not just go ahead and get the public's help. They'll be able to give you probably an answer in ten minutes.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: We were actually discussing that amongst ourselves, thinking what would be the reasoning behind not releasing the photo right away. Our best guess was that somehow they didn't want to tip him off. But that seems bizarre because if they gave the description, and they gave a lot of information, why wouldn't they then release his face to get more people who might recognize him to call in and say this is his name. Now we know they have a shoeprint I believe of the shoe he was wearing, and they also said they have a palm print and a fore arm impression. So look, if they have a palm print, I don't know can you trace that? And this is a kid who may or may not have had any sort of criminal history. Who knows if even a fingerprint would have helped, But certainly after the fact, once they capture him, they can link him to these the shoeprint, the palm print, the forearm print, But in terms of finding him or identifying him through that, I'm not sure how that would work.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: The other again, what happened in three hours? What happened in that three hours from when they said we're not going to release they said, we have it, we can see this person, but we're not going to show it to you the public because we're confident, they said, confident in their ability to use whatever technology they have to identify the person. Something happened in that three hours, and a decision was made to get this out to the public. I took a beat to think, well, maybe it's a matter of wanting to track this person down before somebody else does. Given the temperature out there right now, you could absolutely see not just one, not two, but a mob of people possibly going and trying to track this person out.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: And when you said that, I said, of course that has to be what it is. The concern of retaliation of continued violence, is someone some individual citizen with vigilante justice in their head, wanting to go ahead and put some sort of stamp on retribution, and so, yes, that would be the concern. But ultimately, at the end of the day, they need to catch this guy. So they had to put those concerns, if that is what their concern was, they had to put those on the back burner and say, the most important thing right now is that we get this person in custody behind bars. And yeah, he is, actually I think it's very fair to say he is in danger from the public. Yeah, certain members of the public, if they find him, if they identify him, if they know who he is, to take matters into their own hands for sure.
00:07:27
Speaker 1: And what does this do to the investigation? Now that he knows his image, he's going to see his image on every cable news channel right now. Then what does he do. I don't really knows how stable. Well, you have to be pretty unstable, don't you, to put off something to do something like this. But what happened.
00:07:47
Speaker 2: I don't know how identifiable he is. I mean, obviously if you know him and you see him, it might ring a bell. But he kind of looks like your average white dude in his early twenties. He has a hat and glasses on. He's thin, very thin, and he's a slight person. But he could be anybody. I wouldn't be able to necessarily pick him out, but if you knew him, if you knew him, that's different. But just from the average joe looking at him, he looks like anybody. He looks like everybody. He doesn't have a specific or distinctive look, So, I, you know, I'm not sure how that works. But we also found out some more specifics about the gun police believed that he was using. They called it a bolt action rifle. Apparently this is you see, I don't know anything about guns, but you just made a face and a gesture, So what what do you know about this?
00:08:35
Speaker 1: What I know is if you're using a bolt action rifle, this is a sniper rifle. This is something you use when you are trying to have a precision, precision shot, a single shot, because that's how you load it one of the time it's bolt action. To show it to you, you'll recognize it. You essentially have to manually dislodge the carters that time and relow. It's one at a time. So this is a it's considered a sniper accurate, few moving parts, very reliable, long range weapon.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: If this isn't some AR fifteen, some assault rifle where you're trying to kill as many people as quickly as possible, this is. They described it as an older model Mauser thirty six caliber high powered bolt action rifle. They say it's a military rifle that's popular with hunters, and so to what you're saying, that makes a lot of sense. And yes, they found several cartridges, including a spent round in the rifle's chamber, so that would absolutely back up what we know that that single shot was fired. This rifle that they uncovered had one spent round. And so right now the weapon and the ammunition, as you might imagine, are being traced by the ATF. They actually have it by analysts in West Virginia trying to connect the dots and figure out who owned this rifle, who purchased this rifle, all of those things. But right now there's no evidence from the gun that has led to a name where we'd actually know who police are looking for.
00:10:11
Speaker 1: This was a precision planned execution, even down to the weapon chosen for it. That's incredible. I mean, we are all curious, who knows how this is going to end, But to get an answer as to who this person is, what they were thinking, why they did this, how they planned it, how they pulled it off, and to think that person is still on the run when every resource, you know, the federal government and including some pressure is coming, maybe even from the White House. You need to get this guy and get him now because he just went after one of our guys. This is really an incredible story. And to you, we were saying earlier how he blended in. You can't really blend in if you're carrying around of a bolt action rifle. They found a screwdriver that might have explained maybe there were some assembly and disassembly of the correct leesson.
00:11:03
Speaker 2: So they found a screwdriver near the weapon, and that is their best guess that he actually used the screwdriver to disassemble it, to carry it around, and then to reassemble it once he got on that roof. But it's interesting because I know he didn't want to draw attention to himself, but it actually is perfectly legal to walk around in Utah on a college campus with a long weapon not concealed, which is kind of scary. I think there was only a handful of states, about a dozen states that allow this, but Utah is among them, so he could have He would have drawn attention, of course, but legally he was allowed to do that. If he bought the gun legally and owned the gun legally, he would have been able to walk around with it. He didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he specifically where the police are believing that he specifically concealed it so that he could then get up on that rooftop or climb up those stairs without anyone being suspicious. And then yeah, he reassembled it once he got on that roof. Yes, this was it appears to have been a very calculated crime.
00:12:04
Speaker 1: But during the press conference to the first thing this morning, you had the FBI and the Department of Public Safety there in Utah giving a joint press conference in which we were all clamoring for details, for updates, certainly about the suspect, but they decided that it was necessary to take time during this press conference to send a very specific message out there to people who have been going after the two persons of interest. We continue here now at Amy and TJ. The search now Roads has been going on a manhunt for twenty four plus hours as we record this for the person who pulled off a political assassination in front of a crowd of thousands.
00:12:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and as police are hunting down leads. We mentioned the rifle that they found that they believe the gunmen used. We are actually hearing CNN is reporting this. I'm not sure if anyone else's, but I wanted to point this out. They have reported They say they have sources close to the investigation who have told them that a range of phrases related to cultural issues were found scrawled on this rifle that authorities found in the woods along with that ammunition, and they say that they're analyzing those messages as they're trying to figure out a who is responsible, but why the why, the motive behind the attack. Also among what was scrawled on the rifle, according to these sources, is there are initials, and they're wondering if those initials could possibly match the suspects initials. So they're actually going through suspect profiles and seeing if they can match the initials on the gun with the initials of some a led suspect.
00:14:01
Speaker 3: What kind of things again, repeat to me, I know you were giving at the more a range of phrases related to cultural issues that is very generic. But that is the reporting, and the first thing that comes to your mind, of course is MANNGIONI comes to your mind the United Healthcare right, didn't.
00:14:19
Speaker 1: He He did on the on the showcase. I'm not sure about the weapon, but certainly the showcasings had messages written on. So now you already this was seen as a political assassination that will certainly go farther in the camp of proving that point we were talking. It was a back and forth and look, this is a fast moving case and investigation. After all this happened and all the panic, and nobody was exactly sure what was going on. And at one point yesterday we were going back and forth between cable news channels. One was saying the suspect was in custody. Another was saying, no, we had one law enforcement into the out there in Utah saying a suspect was in custody. We have another saying and then we thought it was put to bed when the FBI director told everybody we got the suspect.
00:15:08
Speaker 2: And we also coupled with that the initial report from the university had video that accompanied it, so we all saw an elderly gentleman brought to his knees being handcuffed. That video was widely circulated. As the suspect has been apprehended, so everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. No one has to worry about some gunman being on the run or on loose because the guy who did it is behind bars or at least in police custody. That ended up not being the gunman, and police have said as much. And then this other person we don't know, but apparently others have been able to identify them through either video or sources or whatever. And we heard in the press conference earlier this morning the FBI director saying stop or was he might have even been a local Utah guy who was saying, please stop targeting or making a threat towards these two individuals who were never suspects, who were only persons of interest who were interrogated and released, and they have no connection to the shooting whatsoever. And yet it appears these two individuals are still being harassed.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: And so to our point about the actual suspect, these are people who aren't even suspects and they're being harassed, and this law enforcement guy who is trying to solve the murder that we all saw happen in front of cameras has to take the time to say back off. So that just lets you know where we are. And to the safety point, I mean, I hope they get him in custody. I hope they get him in custody before somebody figures out who he is and where he is.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: There's that absolutely. And then you have lawmakers all across this country that had scheduled events. Everyone's canceling their events, and they say out of respect for what happened to Charlie Kirk, but also out of concern, out of a safety construer. So everyone's on edge right now, and certainly some of the things that are being said among certain lawmakers, I would argue are not helping with the environment we are in right now.
00:17:15
Speaker 1: That's to your point. I mean, we can't even agree that it's bad that somebody killed somebody else, Like, we're not even on the same page on that. It depends on what side of the aisle you're on, where you're looking at as all, they killed one of theirs, or you can't. I don't know how we can do. I know this ain't the time for that. We were just trying to give the facts and the update about what happened with the case today. But to your point, wherebes this is not helping. A lot of this rhetoric is not helping. Twenty four hours from this man being dead, it's not helping.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: No, And certainly lawmakers are saying they don't believe that any any lawmaker should hold a public event outside right now. That's where we're at right now. They don't feel like any lawmaker or even a political activist. I mean, Charlie Kirk was not a lawmaker. He was just a political activist who certainly was affiliated with the MAGA movement in Trump but he was not a member. He had no actual power within our government. Certainly he had very strong political beliefs that people disagreed with. But anyway, anyone who is now a part of this US government is concerned about having any sort of public event and that could change the way yeah we do business and the way lawmakers even run for reelection. Who knows the ripple effects this is going to have.
00:18:40
Speaker 1: It should not be an act of bravery in this country to just step out in public and speak. It just should not be categorized that way. Folks. We are we're keeping a close eye on everything related to this case. Well, how back on and give you the latest and some context to go along with it whenever it warrants.
00:18:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and oh, I was just to say something else. There's been a couple announcements, but I thought this was of note President Trump announcing that he's going to award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. That's the highest civilian honor that can be awarded by their president. So he's already acknowledged that he's going to do that, and he is speaking with Charlie Kirk's wife, Erica later today, but we also know jd. Vance is actually traveling too. I believe the family to meet with them in person. But from all accounts anyone who's spoken with her and with the family members of Charlie Kirk, they've said, and this goes without saying that they're just absolutely devastated. So it's still, even as we're searching for this gunman, there is incredible amount of heartbreak for the Kirk family and it's hard to imagine what they're going through right now. At this moment, it's been twenty four hours, give or take, actually less than twenty four hours.
00:19:54
Speaker 1: Right, two babies, two babies lost of that, Two babies lost of that, And you said it earlier. That was interesting perspective. They are not old enough even possibly to have memories maybe later of their dad. No, the little ones won.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: Right, Milania Trump, I don't have it in front of me. But she actually had a really poignant response a statement she put out on social media about how instead of having memories, they're going to have photographs. Instead of being held or having hugs when their father, they're going to be told of their father like these are. This is going to have a lasting impact on an entire family and generations to come. And you know, it's it. I know we get caught up in the politics of it, in the horror of it, perhaps, and certainly in the manhunt that's going on right now, but there isn't a family and a whole group of people who are deeply suffering today.
00:20:45
Speaker 1: All right, folks, we will hop back in as the update sworn. But but again, there's always a top right corner in that Apple podcast app, it says follow you just click that and you'll be able to get our updates. You don't have to go hunting for them. They will come right to you. And there seemed like there have been a lot of updates lately, so folks, we always appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you soon.
00:21:06
Speaker 2: M H.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Thursday, September eleventh, and it has already been a day of developments in the Charlie Kirk assassination investigation. But as we speak, the assassin is still on the loose, and welcome to this edition of Amy and TJ and Rowe still on the loose. But after some back and forth, the police have made the decision to release images and we're just getting a look at that in the past few minutes.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: That's true, they did an about face about three hours in the making. So at nine am Eastern time, we heard police say that they did have images captured on CCTV around campus, but they weren't going to release it because they felt confident they were going to be able to find him through their own technology. But yes, fast forward a few hours later and they have released two images. That's how many I've seen of the suspected gunmen. And it's a pretty good image. You pretty good look at his face and certainly what he was wearing, and he didn't have a mask. He just had sunglasses on, a hoodie and a hat.
00:01:08
Speaker 1: And look, you can go out and you can look at the images and you will see them everywhere today as far as our description goes, looked like a white guy. Yeah. They did say earlier in the press conference they had this morning that the person blended in and was able to blend in with students. So I assume there might have been somebody who was college age, at least from my appearance. It looks sortaly could blend in, but looked like might've been a little older even.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: I mean, he looked to me, he looked like he was a kid in his twenties, A white guy in his twenties. That's what he looked like to me.
00:01:42
Speaker 1: It looked like as well, it looked like to you that one of the images is walking up maybe a staircase, getting somewhere. But yeah, and it couldn't make out quite the image on the shirt. It looked like it had an American flag that had been distorted in some way over an image, but you could make that out at least.
00:01:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a thin guy, and yes, definitely see an American flag on that. It wasn't a hoodie. Maybe it was just a long sleeve dark shirt, but yeah, I couldn't tell if it looked like even a firearm or some sort of a gabbl or some dark object over an American flag. I couldn't quite.
00:02:15
Speaker 1: Tell what it was, all right, So that is what we just got and we decided to hop on as soon as we saw those images and got that latest update. But the fact still remains here. We are twenty four hours after the shooting and killing of Charlie Kirk. The assassin is still on the loose. The killer is still on the loose. The police made clear they do not think anyone else is a target or is in danger from this person. They believe, yes, this was a singular event and Charlie Kirk was the intended target. So but that part the rest, but robes they started pretty early this morning. It was seven am out in Utah when they had this press conference to give us an update and pretty significant stuff, starting with first they think they got the weapon.
00:02:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they made it very clear and it was pretty obvious that law enforcement have been working throughout the night to try and figure out the movements of this gunman. And yes, they do believe they have the firearm that he used. But they were able to track his movements starting at eleven fifty two a m. Yesterday When they say that is the exact time they can document that he arrived on campus and then that picture that we see that they released looks like that is him going through a stairwell to get onto that roof of the building where they believe he set up and took aim at Charlie Kirk. But it's pretty remarkable they were able to kind of detail what he did and even detail his escape. They say he jumped off the building, fled campus and into a neighborhood and then into the woods. They were even asking and they've been asking people who live in that neighborhood for their doorbell cams, their ring camps, their security footage that they might have on their property to try and really just track his movement. But they do track him into these woods, and that is where they found the firearm.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: And we're looking here now. As I'm talking, I'm still looking at the images. And like you said, it was a long sleeve, dark T shirt. It's hard to make out, but you can tell the American flag distorted by something.
00:04:18
Speaker 2: Doesn't it kind of look like it Judge's gavel or a firearm. It's hard to make out. It's a little fuzzy.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: Surely he's changed closed behind. But they also were saying in that press conference robe. They don't know where he is, how far he has gotten, but as the time goes on, they certainly think he could be getting farther away. I was. We were both kind of taken aback. They say, we need help identifying We're using our own technology to identify this person based on the images we have, and the thought was, well, why not just go ahead and get the public's help. They'll be able to give you probably an answer in ten minutes.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: We were actually discussing that amongst ourselves, thinking what would be the reasoning behind not releasing the photo right away. Our best guess was that somehow they didn't want to tip him off. But that seems bizarre because if they gave the description, and they gave a lot of information, why wouldn't they then release his face to get more people who might recognize him to call in and say this is his name. Now we know they have a shoeprint I believe of the shoe he was wearing, and they also said they have a palm print and a fore arm impression. So look, if they have a palm print, I don't know can you trace that? And this is a kid who may or may not have had any sort of criminal history. Who knows if even a fingerprint would have helped, But certainly after the fact, once they capture him, they can link him to these the shoeprint, the palm print, the forearm print, But in terms of finding him or identifying him through that, I'm not sure how that would work.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: The other again, what happened in three hours? What happened in that three hours from when they said we're not going to release they said, we have it, we can see this person, but we're not going to show it to you the public because we're confident, they said, confident in their ability to use whatever technology they have to identify the person. Something happened in that three hours, and a decision was made to get this out to the public. I took a beat to think, well, maybe it's a matter of wanting to track this person down before somebody else does. Given the temperature out there right now, you could absolutely see not just one, not two, but a mob of people possibly going and trying to track this person out.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: And when you said that, I said, of course that has to be what it is. The concern of retaliation of continued violence, is someone some individual citizen with vigilante justice in their head, wanting to go ahead and put some sort of stamp on retribution, and so, yes, that would be the concern. But ultimately, at the end of the day, they need to catch this guy. So they had to put those concerns, if that is what their concern was, they had to put those on the back burner and say, the most important thing right now is that we get this person in custody behind bars. And yeah, he is, actually I think it's very fair to say he is in danger from the public. Yeah, certain members of the public, if they find him, if they identify him, if they know who he is, to take matters into their own hands for sure.
00:07:27
Speaker 1: And what does this do to the investigation? Now that he knows his image, he's going to see his image on every cable news channel right now. Then what does he do. I don't really knows how stable. Well, you have to be pretty unstable, don't you, to put off something to do something like this. But what happened.
00:07:47
Speaker 2: I don't know how identifiable he is. I mean, obviously if you know him and you see him, it might ring a bell. But he kind of looks like your average white dude in his early twenties. He has a hat and glasses on. He's thin, very thin, and he's a slight person. But he could be anybody. I wouldn't be able to necessarily pick him out, but if you knew him, if you knew him, that's different. But just from the average joe looking at him, he looks like anybody. He looks like everybody. He doesn't have a specific or distinctive look, So, I, you know, I'm not sure how that works. But we also found out some more specifics about the gun police believed that he was using. They called it a bolt action rifle. Apparently this is you see, I don't know anything about guns, but you just made a face and a gesture, So what what do you know about this?
00:08:35
Speaker 1: What I know is if you're using a bolt action rifle, this is a sniper rifle. This is something you use when you are trying to have a precision, precision shot, a single shot, because that's how you load it one of the time it's bolt action. To show it to you, you'll recognize it. You essentially have to manually dislodge the carters that time and relow. It's one at a time. So this is a it's considered a sniper accurate, few moving parts, very reliable, long range weapon.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: If this isn't some AR fifteen, some assault rifle where you're trying to kill as many people as quickly as possible, this is. They described it as an older model Mauser thirty six caliber high powered bolt action rifle. They say it's a military rifle that's popular with hunters, and so to what you're saying, that makes a lot of sense. And yes, they found several cartridges, including a spent round in the rifle's chamber, so that would absolutely back up what we know that that single shot was fired. This rifle that they uncovered had one spent round. And so right now the weapon and the ammunition, as you might imagine, are being traced by the ATF. They actually have it by analysts in West Virginia trying to connect the dots and figure out who owned this rifle, who purchased this rifle, all of those things. But right now there's no evidence from the gun that has led to a name where we'd actually know who police are looking for.
00:10:11
Speaker 1: This was a precision planned execution, even down to the weapon chosen for it. That's incredible. I mean, we are all curious, who knows how this is going to end, But to get an answer as to who this person is, what they were thinking, why they did this, how they planned it, how they pulled it off, and to think that person is still on the run when every resource, you know, the federal government and including some pressure is coming, maybe even from the White House. You need to get this guy and get him now because he just went after one of our guys. This is really an incredible story. And to you, we were saying earlier how he blended in. You can't really blend in if you're carrying around of a bolt action rifle. They found a screwdriver that might have explained maybe there were some assembly and disassembly of the correct leesson.
00:11:03
Speaker 2: So they found a screwdriver near the weapon, and that is their best guess that he actually used the screwdriver to disassemble it, to carry it around, and then to reassemble it once he got on that roof. But it's interesting because I know he didn't want to draw attention to himself, but it actually is perfectly legal to walk around in Utah on a college campus with a long weapon not concealed, which is kind of scary. I think there was only a handful of states, about a dozen states that allow this, but Utah is among them, so he could have He would have drawn attention, of course, but legally he was allowed to do that. If he bought the gun legally and owned the gun legally, he would have been able to walk around with it. He didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he specifically where the police are believing that he specifically concealed it so that he could then get up on that rooftop or climb up those stairs without anyone being suspicious. And then yeah, he reassembled it once he got on that roof. Yes, this was it appears to have been a very calculated crime.
00:12:04
Speaker 1: But during the press conference to the first thing this morning, you had the FBI and the Department of Public Safety there in Utah giving a joint press conference in which we were all clamoring for details, for updates, certainly about the suspect, but they decided that it was necessary to take time during this press conference to send a very specific message out there to people who have been going after the two persons of interest. We continue here now at Amy and TJ. The search now Roads has been going on a manhunt for twenty four plus hours as we record this for the person who pulled off a political assassination in front of a crowd of thousands.
00:12:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and as police are hunting down leads. We mentioned the rifle that they found that they believe the gunmen used. We are actually hearing CNN is reporting this. I'm not sure if anyone else's, but I wanted to point this out. They have reported They say they have sources close to the investigation who have told them that a range of phrases related to cultural issues were found scrawled on this rifle that authorities found in the woods along with that ammunition, and they say that they're analyzing those messages as they're trying to figure out a who is responsible, but why the why, the motive behind the attack. Also among what was scrawled on the rifle, according to these sources, is there are initials, and they're wondering if those initials could possibly match the suspects initials. So they're actually going through suspect profiles and seeing if they can match the initials on the gun with the initials of some a led suspect.
00:14:01
Speaker 3: What kind of things again, repeat to me, I know you were giving at the more a range of phrases related to cultural issues that is very generic. But that is the reporting, and the first thing that comes to your mind, of course is MANNGIONI comes to your mind the United Healthcare right, didn't.
00:14:19
Speaker 1: He He did on the on the showcase. I'm not sure about the weapon, but certainly the showcasings had messages written on. So now you already this was seen as a political assassination that will certainly go farther in the camp of proving that point we were talking. It was a back and forth and look, this is a fast moving case and investigation. After all this happened and all the panic, and nobody was exactly sure what was going on. And at one point yesterday we were going back and forth between cable news channels. One was saying the suspect was in custody. Another was saying, no, we had one law enforcement into the out there in Utah saying a suspect was in custody. We have another saying and then we thought it was put to bed when the FBI director told everybody we got the suspect.
00:15:08
Speaker 2: And we also coupled with that the initial report from the university had video that accompanied it, so we all saw an elderly gentleman brought to his knees being handcuffed. That video was widely circulated. As the suspect has been apprehended, so everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. No one has to worry about some gunman being on the run or on loose because the guy who did it is behind bars or at least in police custody. That ended up not being the gunman, and police have said as much. And then this other person we don't know, but apparently others have been able to identify them through either video or sources or whatever. And we heard in the press conference earlier this morning the FBI director saying stop or was he might have even been a local Utah guy who was saying, please stop targeting or making a threat towards these two individuals who were never suspects, who were only persons of interest who were interrogated and released, and they have no connection to the shooting whatsoever. And yet it appears these two individuals are still being harassed.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: And so to our point about the actual suspect, these are people who aren't even suspects and they're being harassed, and this law enforcement guy who is trying to solve the murder that we all saw happen in front of cameras has to take the time to say back off. So that just lets you know where we are. And to the safety point, I mean, I hope they get him in custody. I hope they get him in custody before somebody figures out who he is and where he is.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: There's that absolutely. And then you have lawmakers all across this country that had scheduled events. Everyone's canceling their events, and they say out of respect for what happened to Charlie Kirk, but also out of concern, out of a safety construer. So everyone's on edge right now, and certainly some of the things that are being said among certain lawmakers, I would argue are not helping with the environment we are in right now.
00:17:15
Speaker 1: That's to your point. I mean, we can't even agree that it's bad that somebody killed somebody else, Like, we're not even on the same page on that. It depends on what side of the aisle you're on, where you're looking at as all, they killed one of theirs, or you can't. I don't know how we can do. I know this ain't the time for that. We were just trying to give the facts and the update about what happened with the case today. But to your point, wherebes this is not helping. A lot of this rhetoric is not helping. Twenty four hours from this man being dead, it's not helping.
00:17:48
Speaker 2: No, And certainly lawmakers are saying they don't believe that any any lawmaker should hold a public event outside right now. That's where we're at right now. They don't feel like any lawmaker or even a political activist. I mean, Charlie Kirk was not a lawmaker. He was just a political activist who certainly was affiliated with the MAGA movement in Trump but he was not a member. He had no actual power within our government. Certainly he had very strong political beliefs that people disagreed with. But anyway, anyone who is now a part of this US government is concerned about having any sort of public event and that could change the way yeah we do business and the way lawmakers even run for reelection. Who knows the ripple effects this is going to have.
00:18:40
Speaker 1: It should not be an act of bravery in this country to just step out in public and speak. It just should not be categorized that way. Folks. We are we're keeping a close eye on everything related to this case. Well, how back on and give you the latest and some context to go along with it whenever it warrants.
00:18:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and oh, I was just to say something else. There's been a couple announcements, but I thought this was of note President Trump announcing that he's going to award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. That's the highest civilian honor that can be awarded by their president. So he's already acknowledged that he's going to do that, and he is speaking with Charlie Kirk's wife, Erica later today, but we also know jd. Vance is actually traveling too. I believe the family to meet with them in person. But from all accounts anyone who's spoken with her and with the family members of Charlie Kirk, they've said, and this goes without saying that they're just absolutely devastated. So it's still, even as we're searching for this gunman, there is incredible amount of heartbreak for the Kirk family and it's hard to imagine what they're going through right now. At this moment, it's been twenty four hours, give or take, actually less than twenty four hours.
00:19:54
Speaker 1: Right, two babies, two babies lost of that, Two babies lost of that, And you said it earlier. That was interesting perspective. They are not old enough even possibly to have memories maybe later of their dad. No, the little ones won.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: Right, Milania Trump, I don't have it in front of me. But she actually had a really poignant response a statement she put out on social media about how instead of having memories, they're going to have photographs. Instead of being held or having hugs when their father, they're going to be told of their father like these are. This is going to have a lasting impact on an entire family and generations to come. And you know, it's it. I know we get caught up in the politics of it, in the horror of it, perhaps, and certainly in the manhunt that's going on right now, but there isn't a family and a whole group of people who are deeply suffering today.
00:20:45
Speaker 1: All right, folks, we will hop back in as the update sworn. But but again, there's always a top right corner in that Apple podcast app, it says follow you just click that and you'll be able to get our updates. You don't have to go hunting for them. They will come right to you. And there seemed like there have been a lot of updates lately, so folks, we always appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you soon.
00:21:06
Speaker 2: M H.