Family claims home security footage captured Kirk assassin fleeing through backyards
OREM, UTAH – Authorities have collected a home surveillance camera that may contain clues as they race to catch a suspected assassin following the shooting death of conservative speaker Charlie Kirk Wednesday.
A person at the home told Fox News Digital he believes his camera recorded the person of interest in a neighbor’s backyard.
Police and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were seen at the home. One of them climbed a ladder and removed the entire floodlight unit, which included a home security camera.
PERSON OF INTEREST IN CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION PICTURED IN PHOTOS RELEASED BY FBI
Erwin Steele and his family own several homes on West Street in Orem. One of them is separated from Utah Valley University’s Campus Drive by a chain fence, across from an alleyway the shooter may have used while fleeing. Steele said he believes the suspect crossed onto one of his family’s properties.
Steele said his brother owns the surveillance camera that authorities confiscated Thursday after it recorded a single person running through backyards on the block after the shooting.
The street is near a wooded area where investigators recovered a rifle earlier in the investigation.
CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION: DISPATCH AUDIO REVEALS SUSPECT IN BLACK TACTICAL GEAR, CARRYING LONG GUN
Steele said he thinks the suspect ran down the alleyway, ditched his weapon, bypassed the fence where it ended and ran through his family’s properties.
A sniper shot and killed Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, Wednesday afternoon as he was speaking in the courtyard at UVU at an event organized by the campus chapter of Turning Point USA, a national conservative group Kirk founded.
Investigators recovered a “high-powered, bolt-action rifle” along the route the suspect is believed to have used to escape, according to FBI Salt Lake City Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls.
CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION SUSPECT EVADES MANHUNT AS INVESTIGATORS ANALYZE SECURITY FOOTAGE
The FBI released two images of a man in black they were calling a “person of interest” in the shooting. Bohls said they also found a palm print, footprint and imprint from a forearm.
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Videos of the shooting show witnesses screaming in horror and ducking for cover after the bullet struck Kirk in the neck. He was rushed to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
Other video circulating online appears to show a dark-clad figure on a rooftop. Authorities said the gunshot came from about 200 yards away, likely from a perch atop the Losee Center building, which is on the opposite side of the courtyard from where Kirk was speaking under a tent.
Video captures chaotic scene moments after Charlie Kirk was assassinated
EXCLUSIVE – Video from one witness to the assassination of Charlie Kirk shows people dropping to the ground as the Turning Point USA founder was shot at a speaking event on Wednesday.
Kirk was shot and killed during an event on Wednesday hosted by TPUSA at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. A university spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that Kirk was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, but later died.
Two separate individuals were detained and questioned by law enforcement and were later released. The FBI released two images of a person of interest on Thursday, which depict a male wearing jeans, a black shirt with an American flag graphic, a hat and black sunglasses. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading authorities to a suspect.
“The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah,” FBI Salt Lake City wrote on X.
PERSON OF INTEREST IN CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION PICTURED IN PHOTOS RELEASED BY FBI
Lexi Langley, a recent graduate of Brigham Young University, told Fox News Digital people immediately dropped to the ground after the shot was fired.
“I didn’t know that he had been shot at the time. And everyone kind of dropped to the ground,” Langley said. “I was preparing to hear more shots because I thought maybe this was a mass shooting. It didn’t cross my mind that it would have been an assassination attempt.”
WATCH: Witness describes chaotic scene after Charlie Kirk was assassinated
Video Langley shared with Fox News Digital shows almost every individual at the UVU courtyard immediately dropping to the ground once Kirk was shot.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CHARLIE KIRK
Langley said she ran into a building with others and that’s when she realized what had happened.
“It still didn’t really feel real. Like I felt like I was in a dream. It was so weird,” she said. “So many people were coming through crying… it’s like the worst way to bond with strangers. But in that moment, it was like, it doesn’t matter who I talk to, we are all in this together.”
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The FBI is encouraging people with tips regarding the person of interest are encouraged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov/digitalmedia/f4507712a3b2893.
Trump gets ovation as he salutes national anthem during Yankees’ 9/11 game
NEW YORK – President Donald Trump saluted the national anthem on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, receiving a good hand from the Bronx faithful in the process.
Trump arrived in New York shortly after 6 p.m. ET and was spotted in his suite on the third base side less than an hour later.
It was a mostly positive crowd toward Trump on the 24th anniversary of Sept. 11, with moderate boos. However, all were on hand to loud “USA” chants both before and after the anthem.
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A faint “F— Joe Biden” chant was heard, but it drowned out quite quickly.
The ovation came after Trump visited the Yankees in the home clubhouse where he shook everyone’s hand and had extensive chats with Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe.
TRUMP ARRIVES AT YANKEE STADIUM, GIVES SPEECH TO TEAM AHEAD OF 9/11 ANNIVERSARY GAME
Fans were urged by the Yankees to take public transportation to the game and arrive early. Gates opened three hours before the game — normally, it is 90 minutes beforehand.
Trump was in a suite with Yankees team owner Hal Steinbrenner and president Randy Levine after being at the Pentagon for a 9/11 ceremony early Thursday.
In his first at-bat after meeting Trump, who complimented his power and muscles, he hit a solo homer 110 mph off the bat.
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This is the first time Trump has attended a baseball game since the 2021 World Series, roughly a year after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. The last time he was at an MLB game as a sitting president was the 2019 Fall Classic.
GOP lawmaker warns left has ‘blood on their hands’ after Kirk assassination
On the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle expressed that they are most worried about rising domestic terrorism impacting Americans.
Asked whether he was more concerned about domestic or foreign terrorists, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital, “You’ve got to be vigilant on all of it.”
Yet, in the wake of the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, he placed particular blame on the left, saying, “They’ve got blood on their hands on this one, there is no question.”
“The repercussions, I think, could be monumental at the ballot box,” said Burchett.
24 YEARS AFTER 9/11, A FATHER’S EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM STILL INSPIRES TWO POWERFUL PATHS OF AMERICAN SERVICE
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, responded that “we need a country that respects the rule of law and can actually engage in civil discourse. We don’t have that right now. That’s a problem.”
“We have threats from all around, overseas and here, but you know we got to start respecting the rule of law again or we’re not going to have anything left,” added Roy.
In the current climate, Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, responded, “I think domestic,” adding, “it’s not a matter of if but when.”
“You can’t let your guard down on either,” added Arrington, recalling, “I was in the White House on 9/11 with George W. Bush.”
Arrington expressed particular concern about terrorists who were let into the country through the border.
“You also can’t allow your border to be wide open where you have people, record numbers of people, on the terrorist watch list over here,” he said.
GOP LAWMAKER EXPLAINS UNUSUAL 9/11 EXPERIENCE THAT LED HIM TO ENLIST IN THE MILITARY
Another Texas Republican, Rep. Troy Nehls, also said he is worried about terrorists let into the country by the Biden administration.
“What we have seen with all the terrorism, with the individuals coming across our southern border for the past four years and preying on innocent victims in our country, killing Laken Riley and everyone else, I mean these individuals coming over here, Tren de Aragua, I consider those terrorists, right? Coming over here and causing harm and impact.”
Like Roy, Nehls also lamented violence by “American people against American people with a dissenting point of view.”
“We can’t have a casual conversation and agree to disagree. We’re going to start raising our fists or start pointing guns and start shooting people,” said Nehls, adding, “It’s gone too far.”
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said that though the international terrorist threat is “still there,” he believes “we do have an increased domestic problem because we’ve lost our moorings a little bit spiritually.”
“A lot of folks don’t have hope or purpose, a spiritual hope or purpose. And then you have all this demonization and people get caught up in it. You get caught up in your own little websites. Social media, your own cable, and then these guys feed on anger,” he said.
TRUMP RELEASES OVAL OFFICE MESSAGE ON CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION: ‘HE’S A MARTYR FOR TRUTH AND FREEDOM’
Democrats, too, said they are extremely worried about domestic terrorist threats.
“Domestic terrorism keeps me up at night,” said Rep. André Carson, D-Ind.
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“I want to work with my Republican colleagues and the law enforcement community and activists and people of goodwill in keeping our community safe,” he added.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, R-N.Y., said, “I worry in the age of social media, I think we’re witnessing the rise of violent extremism and domestic terrorism both at home and abroad.”
Torres added that “the safety of public figures can no longer be taken for granted.”
“I have lost an incentive to do public events without extensive safety precautions,” he shared, adding, “I suspect that anxiety is weighing heavily on every member of Congress.”
GOP triggers nuclear option in Senate to break Dem blockade of Trump nominees
After an attempt to secure a bipartisan deal failed, Senate Republicans went nuclear for the fourth time in the Senate’s history Thursday to speed up confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
Republicans had threatened turning to the “nuclear option,” which would allow for a rule change with a simple majority vote, to blast through the blockade from Senate Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Lawmakers were frustrated that, through the first eight months of Trump’s presidency, not a single nominee had moved through fast-track unanimous consent or voice votes.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Democrats what Republicans intended to do.
SENATE GOP HURTLES TOWARD NUCLEAR OPTION AFTER DEAL WITH DEMS FALLS APART
“I’ve been saying all week, ‘We’re going to vote on this on Thursday, one way or the other,'” Thune said.
“We’re going to change this process in a way that gets us back to what every president prior has had when it comes to the way that these nominees are treated here in the United States Senate — by both sides, Republicans and Democrats; both presidents, Republicans and Democrats.”
The GOP’s rule change, which was born from a revived Democratic proposal from 2023, will now allow lawmakers to vote on Trump’s nominees in batches.
Senate Republicans’ rule change, which has been pitched as beneficial to the current and future administrations, would only apply to nominees subject to the Senate’s requirement for two hours of debate, which includes sub-Cabinet-level positions and executive branch picks.
Judicial nominees, like district court judges and district attorneys, don’t fall under the rule change. Lawmakers are expected to plow through dozens of nominees early next week under the new rules with the intent of clearing the backlog of Trump’s picks, which grew to more than 140 and counting.
With the change in place, it will only take a simple majority vote to confirm the picks. Still, the decision to do bloc packages will require 30 hours of debate before a final confirmation vote.
DEMS DIG IN AS GOP PREPARES TO GO NUCLEAR IN TRUMP NOMINEE RACE
Schumer panned the move and contended Republicans had turned the Senate into “a conveyor belt for unqualified Trump nominees.”
“This is a sad, regrettable day for the Senate, and I believe it won’t take very long for Republicans to wish they had not pushed the chamber further down this awful road,” he said.
However, before resorting to the nuclear option, lawmakers were close to a bipartisan deal that would have allowed for 15 nominees to be voted on in groups with two hours of debate.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, blocked the new proposal on the floor and argued that Senate Republicans were trying to rush through the negotiating process ahead of their plan to leave Washington for the weekend.
“What they’re asking for is unanimity, and we don’t have it,” he said. “And, so, if you’re interested in enacting this on a bipartisan basis, the process for doing that — it is available to you. But, again, it’s more a matter of running out of patience than running out of time.”
TRUMP NOMINEES PILE UP AS GOP WEIGHS RULE SHIFT ONCE FLOATED BY DEMOCRATS
A frustrated Thune fired back, “How much time is enough?
“Give me a break,” he said. “Two years. Not long enough. How about eight months? Eight months of this.”
The nuclear process began earlier this week when Thune teed up 48 nominees, all of which moved through committee on a bipartisan basis, for confirmation on the floor.
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“It’s time to move,” Thune said. “Time to quit stalling. Time to vote. It’s time to fix this place. And the ideal way to fix it would be in a bipartisan way.”
Both parties have turned to the nuclear option a handful of times since 2010. In 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., used the nuclear option to allow for all executive branch nominees to be confirmed by simple majority.
Four years later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., went nuclear to allow for Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority. In 2019, McConnell reduced the debate time to two hours for civilian nominees.
Foreign nationals who praise political killing face swift action from Trump admin
The State Department will be monitoring the words of foreign nationals who “glorify violence” after the Charlie Kirk shooting and take “appropriate action.”
“In light of yesterday’s horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau wrote on X.
“I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action. Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the @StateDept can protect the American people.”
LIVE UPDATES: MANHUNT FOR CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTER CONTINUES
Landau said in a subsequent post he would direct his consular officials to monitor replies to his X post calling out foreign nationals in the U.S. on visas who posted such rhetoric.
In June, the State Department said it would monitor the social media posts of visa applicants and would instruct applicants to set their social media to “public.”
CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION WITNESSES DESCRIBE MINIMAL SECURITY, HORRIFYING SHOOTING
CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION: DISPATCH AUDIO REVEALS SUSPECT IN BLACK TACTICAL GEAR, CARRYING LONG GUN
The State Department has already revoked over 6,000 student visas, because recipients had either overstayed visas or broken the law. The “vast majority” of legal violations were assault, driving under the influence, burglary or “support for terrorism.”
On Wednesday, Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative activist, father of two and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The event was part of his “American Comeback Tour,” which drew a crowd of about 3,000 attendees.
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Kirk was addressing a question from the audience about mass shootings involving transgender individuals when a single shot struck him in the neck. The weapon, later recovered, was a high-powered bolt-action rifle found in a nearby wooded area. Authorities believe the shot came from a rooftop roughly 200 yards away.
While the suspect remains at large, the FBI recently released imagery, imploring the public for help in identifying the shooter.
Joe Rogan visibly shocked by Kirk’s death, warns of ideologues ‘celebrating this’
Podcast host Joe Rogan praised slain TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk, arguing he deserves credit for trying to protect Americans’ ability to have an open debate.
“There’s going to be a lot of people celebrating this,” Rogan told guest Charlie Sheen. “It’s so scary. It’s so dangerous too, to celebrate or to in any way encourage this kind of behavior from human beings…. He’s not a violent guy. He was talking to people on college campuses.”
He added that Kirk “wasn’t even particularly rude. He tried to be pretty reasonable with people.”
“Everything I saw seemed reasonable,” Sheen replied.
LIVE UPDATES: MANHUNT FOR CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTER CONTINUES
FOX NEWS PERSONALITIES OFFER EMOTIONAL TRIBUTES TO CHARLIE KIRK: ‘HE LOVED AMERICA SO MUCH’
Kirk, the founder of one of the most influential political organizations in the country, was shot while holding an event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He later died of his wound, leaving the country reeling from another act of horrific political violence.
The suspect remains at large. Authorities said they recovered a high-powered bolt-action rifle and obtained clear video of the shooter, who reportedly jumped from a building and ran off campus into a nearby neighborhood.
Rogan, who still touts himself as a liberal at heart, was aghast at Kirk’s death. He suggested Kirk was “murdered for having a different opinion from somebody else, different ideology from somebody else.”
CHARLIE KIRK PAINTED AS ‘CONTROVERSIAL,’ ‘PROVOCATIVE’ IN MEDIA’S ASSASSINATION COVERAGE
“He was a very intelligent guy,” Rogan said. “Whether you agree with him or don’t, and there’s a lot of stuff that I didn’t agree with him on. That’s fine. You’re allowed to disagree with people without celebrating the fact they got shot.”
Rogan offered his vision of how political opponents should actually interact in American life.
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“Well, what you’re supposed to do with a guy like that, if you’re opposing him is debate him, right?” Rogan said. “Have a conversation where your argument is more compelling than his. That’s what people should be celebrating, discourse. You know, we used to do that.”
Hundreds of blue city retirees reportedly left waiting months for pension payments
Nearly 300 retired city employees in a Democrat-led city are reportedly still waiting to receive their pension payments, months after accepting early retirement packages as part of a cost-cutting initiative.
At a city council meeting Wednesday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire pushed back against criticism that the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System (HMEPS) failed to issue payments, stressing he has no authority over the fund, according to local news outlet KHOU 11 News.
“I have no control over the pension fund,” Whitmire said. “We’ve explained that repeatedly, provided the data to our daily paper, but that’s not what they want to write, and neither does one of my critics want to show the facts.”
AMERICANS FACE VASTLY DIFFERENT RETIREMENT COSTS ACROSS STATES AS SOCIAL SECURITY CUTS LOOM
More than 1,000 city employees accepted early retirement packages in May to help trim city spending. That number far outpaces HMEPS’ usual average of 39 retirements per month, board Chair Sherry Mose told KHOU 11 News.
SEVERAL STATE OFFICIALS DEMAND FEDS PROTECT AMERICANS’ RETIREMENT PLANS BY CLEARLY REGULATING ESG INVESTMENTS
Retirees were originally told it would take about 30 to 60 days to receive their pension payments, but that timeline has not been met, according to ABC13.
“I strongly regret retiring,” Kathy Caldwell, a retired City of Houston employee who has become increasingly anxious amid mounting bills, told ABC13. “I strongly regret it, and I’m sorry, I’m getting ready to cry. I don’t want to, but it’s a lot. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. I need help. I need my money.”
All outstanding payments are expected to be issued by the end of September, according to Mose. She explained that delays have stemmed from timing issues, as well as errors in the paperwork submitted by some retirees, including missing documents like birth certificates and marriage licenses, KHOU 11 News reported.
RETIREMENT PLANNING: THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A TRADITIONAL AND ROTH IRA
To address the issue, HMEPS has brought on additional staff, and staff has been working overtime, Mose told KHOU 11 News, noting that her office has received more than 13,000 calls regarding the missing payments.
“My board members, everyone’s been working on this. It’s not being placed on the back burner,” Mose said.
HMEPS is a government-run defined benefit pension plan that offers disability, retirement and survivor benefits to City of Houston employees and HMEPS staff. It serves more than 25,000 people, according to its website.
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Mayor Whitmire and HMEPS did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.