Authorities are searching for a perpetrator in the Wednesday shooting death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in Utah after two subjects were arrested and released.
Police initially arrested George Zinn and then Zachariah Qureshi after Kirk was fatally shot in the neck during a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, but the two subjects had “no current ties” to the murder, the FBI and Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) said in a joint statement Wednesday night. The shooter killed Kirk in a “targeted attack” and is suspected to have fired from the roof of a nearby building, the agencies said.
The shooter arrived on campus a little after 11:50 a.m., climbed up a stairwell to the rooftop and disappeared into a neighborhood after firing, authorities said at a Thursday morning press conference. Authorities obtained a weapon from the shooting in a wooded area and video footage of the suspect. They referred to the suspect as a male who is “of college age.”
Later on Thursday, the FBI released photos showing a “person of interest” wearing dark sunglasses, a black hat and black shirt, asking the public for help in identification.
UVU’s police department had six officers protecting the event along with Kirk’s private security team, according to the Wednesday statement. Kirk was seen sitting under a tent and speaking to students during an outdoor Q&A session before a single shot rang out, prompting large crowds to scatter.
Law enforcement agencies are reviewing multiple crime scenes, the DPS and FBI said Wednesday.
Videos circulating on social media on Wednesday appeared to show an older man being arrested at the scene of the shooting. FBI Director Kash Patel later said in X posts that authorities had arrested, interrogated and subsequently released a subject in the investigation.
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