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Examining Internet Theories About Charlie Kirk Assassination at Utah Valley University Without Drawing Conclusions
20:52
Roger Stone Raises Critical Questions About Charlie Kirk Assassination Investigation and FBI Timeline
16:49
Inside the Charlie Kirk Investigation: Exclusive Interview with Lance Twiggs Family Member and New Details from Utah Valley University
30:43
Brian Entin and Steve Moore Analyze the Chaotic First Hours of the Charlie Kirk Manhunt
NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin reports from outside Utah Valley University on the evening of Charlie Kirk's assassination, describing a confusing day in which two different persons of interest were detained and released, while FBI Director Kash Patel's tweet claiming a subject was in custody appeared to contradict the more cautious tone officials struck at their own press conference. Entin brings in former FBI agent Steve Moore, who explains why early confusion over persons of interest is standard procedure rather than a sign of incompetence, and why a roughly 12-hour gap without an arrest isn't unusual given how the FBI splits resources across reviewing surveillance footage, tracing the shooter's vantage point, and working with Utah Highway Patrol to monitor the state's limited highway routes. Moore offers a striking technical assessment of the shot itself, arguing that a true professional sniper would never treat the neck as a primary target, and explains why Utah's rural geography, with only two major freeways, actually works against the shooter rather than helping him disappear.
Brian Entin Reports From a Chaotic Scene at Utah Valley University
Brian Entin reports from outside Utah Valley University on the evening of the shooting, describing a massive law enforcement presence including the FBI, Homeland Security, ATF, and state and local police. He describes looking through windows into the courtyard where Kirk was speaking, still left untouched with abandoned backpacks, chairs, and an overturned tent.
"It's just a terrible, terrible scene back there," Entin says.
A Day of Confusion Over Persons of Interest
Entin walks through a confusing sequence of events from earlier in the day, starting with an older man briefly suspected of being the shooter after a viral social media video, who turned out not to be the suspect, followed by a second person of interest taken in for questioning.
Kash Patel's Tweet and the Press Conference Disconnect
Entin notes a striking contrast between FBI Director Kash Patel's social media post claiming a subject was in custody and the noticeably more cautious tone officials struck during their own press conference.
"The vibe at the press conference was different than the vibe of Kash Patel's tweet," Entin says, noting that the police chief also referenced limitations in the quality of campus surveillance footage.
Back to Square One
Entin reports that the person of interest discussed at the press conference was ultimately released, leaving the manhunt active with no suspect in custody as of that evening.
"We're back at square one with an active manhunt," Entin says.
Former FBI Agent Steve Moore Joins the Investigation
Entin brings in former FBI agent Steve Moore to help explain what's likely happening behind the scenes. Moore says the early confusion is standard in high-profile cases.
"Washington, D.C. is already calling and saying, 'What have you got? What's going on?'... what you'll say is, 'We've got somebody, we're not sure of what's going on with them yet.' And what they hear is, they got him," Moore says.
How the FBI Splits Its Resources
Moore explains that multiple FBI teams work simultaneously on different aspects of the case rather than one unified effort.
"It is not one FBI team investigating this. It is three to four looking at different things simultaneously," Moore says, describing teams reviewing campus surveillance footage, tracing the shooter's likely rooftop vantage point, and analyzing the bullet's trajectory.
Was This Really a Professional Sniper Shot?
Asked about the skill required for the shot, Moore, a former FBI sniper himself, offers a pointed assessment.
"This person missed the head, the entire head of the target, and hit him in the neck. This, in actual professional sniping, would be considered a wild miss," Moore says, explaining that snipers train to aim for the head or chest, never the neck. "Nobody who is a serious sniper considers the neck a prime aim point."
Why No Photo Has Been Released Yet
Moore explains the absence of a released suspect photo or video as a deliberate choice rather than a gap in evidence.
"Usually, when they're asking the public for help, it's because they don't have anything. If they're not asking for the public's help, they don't need the public's help right now," Moore says, noting that public tip lines generate enormous volumes of mostly unusable leads that can slow down an active investigation.
Utah's Geography Works Against the Shooter
Moore, who previously worked as an FBI agent in Utah, argues the state's limited highway network actually makes it harder for a suspect to escape compared to a major city.
"If I was that shooter, I would want this to have happened in LA, where there is no way the police could even try to cover roads... In Utah, you are channeled," Moore says, describing how Utah Highway Patrol can monitor key chokepoints along the state's two main freeways. "That person's not going to get away unscathed if they try to leave Utah."
What Happens Next
Moore predicts hundreds of additional FBI agents will arrive to assist, with investigators combing through social media activity and footage from prior Charlie Kirk events to identify anyone who appeared repeatedly near the rooftop in question.
"I don't expect this to be a who-done-it," Moore says. "I would say right now that that person's best option is to turn themselves in."
Video Transcript
Hey guys, thanks for checking out my
channel. I appreciate it. I'm outside
Utah Valley University. I just got here
a little while ago. This is where
Charlie Kirk was assassinated today. Um,
and there is a manhunt. There's a
massive manhunt happening in this area
near the university and really all over
Utah right now as they continue to
search for a suspect. It's been very
confusing on the law enforcement front,
which I'm going to get into in a second.
Uh there's been two potential suspects
that were reported about and both of
those did not pan out from what we are
told. So the manhunt is very very active
still uh right now not only here at the
university but really in the entire
area. Although here at the university I
mean there are so many police out here.
I mean you've got FBI, you've got
homeland security, ATF, the local
police, the university police, the state
police. Um, basically where this
happened, and I can't get to it right
now, but you see this big building
behind me on the other side of that
building, and I just walked over there.
They're not going to let me back in
there now, though. Um, is the courtyard,
sort of the amphitheater where Charlie
Kirk was um, speaking. And, uh, it's
awful. I looked through the windows. I
went back there. Um, and it's just, I
mean, everything is still sort of left
the way that it was. Um, there's
caution, there's, you know, police tape
up, but, you know, you can tell people
just ran for their lives because there's
still backpacks everywhere and chairs,
and I could see the tent where Charlie
Kirk was was speaking. And if you've
seen the video, I mean, the video is
just awful. Um, but the the tent is now
on its side over there. Uh, and it's
just it's a terrible terrible scene back
there. Um, but in terms of what's
developed today, and I'm going to get my
former FBI agent friend on here in a
minute to help explain some of this, but
just to sort of walk you through what
happened today. Um, Charlie Kirk was
here on campus. He was speaking. There
was a um a shooter, a sniper that police
say was up on um the roof of one of the
buildings out here. And there's video on
social media where you can see him uh
dressed in all dark clothing. Um, and it
seems like it was just one shot from
what we can tell. Someone who was
probably obviously trained. Uh, one shot
and shot and killed Charlie Kirk. Um,
what's confusing is initially there was
this social media video of an older man
who was taken into custody who uh,
everyone thought was the suspect. He was
apparently interviewed and making up
some kind of story and um, was released
or I'm not sure if he was released. He
might still be in custody for lying to
police, but he is not the shooting
suspect. So then we were told that there
was that the suspect was on the loose.
Okay. Manhunt. That was this afternoon.
Then police have this press conference
here in Utah where um they're basically
in the beginning of the press conference
making it sound like this is still an
active manhunt and there is um no
suspect. But during the press
conference, FBI director Cash Patel
tweets out that they have a a subject in
custody. Um, so then at the press
conference, reporters start asking about
that and the governor says, "We do have
a person of interest in custody and we
are questioning that person." But it was
kind of the vibe at the press conference
was different than the vibe of Cash
Patel's tweet. Cash Patel's tweet made
everybody seem to think that they they
got the guy. The vibe at the press
conference I was getting was, "Wait a
minute, this doesn't they don't sound
that confident at at the press
conference that this is really over." Um
because they just I don't know there was
just you didn't get that vibe that we
got the guy everybody calm down. It was
more of a vibe of well we're questioning
someone. Uh so they they say they have a
person of interest. They're questioning
them. They say they don't believe that
there's a second person involved. The
police chief also said something that I
really zeroed in on. He said we have
surveillance video from the campus. But
he said you know how surveillance video
is or something like that. making it
sound like the surveillance video wasn't
that good of quality. Um, okay. So, the
press conference ends. We think they
have a suspect in custody, although my
spiny sense is still telling me there's
something weird about all of this cuz
they didn't sound that confident despite
the Cash Patel tweet. Uh, and then it
comes out that there is no suspect in
custody. They have released the person
of interest they were talking to, who
apparently is not involved. At least
that's what it seems like because they
released the person and now we're back
at square one with an active manhunt.
So, as of right now, no suspect in
custody here uh in Utah for the for the
shooting of Charlie Kirk. Um you have to
wonder how much time was wasted. I mean,
hopefully they were still investigating
during all of this, but if they actually
thought the first guy was the person and
then hours later the second person they
had in custody was the person, um they
could be way behind. And this part of
the country, I mean, it's rural out
here. You've got mountains all around.
Um a lot of places that someone could be
hiding right now. Uh, so we don't know
what they know. It's interesting that I
think it's interesting just having
covered a lot of these. Normally, if
they have a good quality surveillance
picture, they will put it out to us so
that we can put it out uh the media can
put it out and and people can help with
the investigation. If they seen this
person or whatever. Um, that hasn't
happened. So, a they either don't have a
good picture because again at the press
conference the police chief made it
sound like the security footage was not
very good quality or b they have more
information than they're letting on and
they don't really need the media's help
right now. Uh in the building again when
I went in there's like a massive um like
operation center. I mean there are so
many police officers in there. Um
they've got a whole sort of like a war
room in there. So the investigation is
obviously very very active right now.
There are I just noticed this is really
sad. There are these photos. I mean,
these um if you guys can see these.
There's This camera is like got a mind
of its own. There's these uh flowers
that people have left here. Um again,
just a tragic tragic um day. I mean, for
our country, regardless of what your
political beliefs are, um it's it's not
good um that this happens in our
country. And uh very very disturbing. Um
but back to the investigation. Um
there's it's been quiet uh in terms of
since that press conference since they
first said there's a suspect and then
said no, it's not a suspect or a person
of interest. They haven't said much
else. Um so I'm going to um get my
former FBI agent friend on here. I'm
going to get in the car and try to get a
little input from him on what may be
going on here. I'm joined now by Steve
Moore, former FBI agent. Uh Steve, I'm
outside the scene right now. Um, I'm
trying to understand sort of how this
day went down, kind of what maybe what
was going on behind the scenes because,
you know, initially there was that older
gentleman that everyone thought was the
suspect who apparently wasn't. Then the
FBI director tweeted out that there was
a subject in custody and the officials
at the press conference seemed kind of
caught off guard like they didn't they
didn't seem as confident about it. And
now we get news that that person has
been let go. So, what do you think is
going on behind the scenes?
>> The usual thing. What happens is right
after an an exigent uh situation like
that where everything's uh chaotic and
panicked, uh what you have is the FBI,
if they weren't there already, are on
their way. They get there and people are
saying, "I saw this guy. I saw this
guy." And people are pointing and
saying, "That guy looked good. That guy
was right in the area. I you know and
the FBI is going to pounce on that
because you'd be negligent not to. At
the same time, they may not have high
confidence that these are the people
that were involved, but they certainly
have to, you know, sus it out to find
out if they are or aren't. Meanwhile,
Washington DC is already calling uh and
saying, "What have you got? What's going
on?" And you know, the little
frustration will come out in my in my uh
talking here because I've been on the
end of that and say, "I would really
like to help you get a suspect, but
you're calling me when I need to be
working." And so what you'll say is,
"We've got somebody. We're not sure of
what's going on with them yet." And what
they hear is they got him. And so that
so you'll you'll find out from a press
conference in Washington DC that
Washington is saying that you've got the
suspect and you're saying oh glad I glad
I know. Uh so that's standard and it
doesn't surprise me at all. I'm sure
it's frustrating to the public.
>> Do you think that it put them behind on
the ground here? um because it made it
sound like they thought they had the
person. They were questioning someone.
Um they had a person of interest. That's
what the governor called the person. I
mean, I'm just thinking if they were all
focused on that person, is the real bad
guy getting an even better chance to get
away.
>> Well, it didn't speed them up. But at
the same time, Brian, when you when you
respond to a situation like that, the
FBI has done this enough to where they
know that you're going to have several
agents dealing with uh reports of
witnesses right on the scene. But, you
know, that's not going to be where your
case is made because the person wasn't
in the vicinity of of the victim. And so
what you're going to be doing then is
splitting off a large portion of your of
your resources to start reviewing film
already uh and finding out what vantage
points because with with Charlie sitting
there, you can get an idea of where that
bullet came from, at least a rough
estimate. And then if it's a if it's a
down angle and you're going to be able
to tell by the the exit wound if there's
an exit wound, you're going to have
enough information to say that roof. And
so you're going to be going in different
directions. It is not one FBI team
investigating this. It is three to four
looking at different things
simultaneously
and and cross-pollinating with the
information they're getting. And so what
you're going to find out now where they
are is that this person apparently um
took a long uh long assassination shot
with a rifle um into a covered tent. And
so what you have there is somebody who
knows what they're doing with a rifle,
but it also means that they couldn't be
sure of their position until that tent
went up. So what I would be doing is
going back on all the film uh throughout
that entire campus and finding anybody
who walked towards that roof or the
ingress point of that roof or exited
that area for the past well actually
since it was announced that um Kirk was
going to come to that college because
somebody was up on that roof. Somebody
cased that and somebody cased it close
enough to the event that they knew they
could shoot under that tent. And so you
might find people on that roof or nearby
that roof and all you have to do is find
the same person in the same area several
times in the last week or so and follow
them with cameras back to the car park.
And um I don't think this is going to be
a who done it. I think this is going to
be an intricate um exhaustive
investigation and right now um there is
no resource that the FBI is not going to
throw at this and I would say right now
that that person's best option um is is
to turn themsel in uh because
they are not going to live a moment not
hounded by the FBI and the FBI I will
get them fairly quickly.
>> How, and I don't know a ton about guns.
H how experienced would a sniper have to
be to pull off that shot? I mean, is
this the kind of thing that, you know,
you could take some classes and be able
to do or is this like someone who really
knows what they're doing?
>> It would be somewhere in be. I mean, it
would be somewhere um beyond somebody
who's taken some classes. I was a sniper
for two years. Um, we took we we worked
for years on shooting. Um, and so I
don't know the distance they they fired.
Uh, but you know, you've got to realize
that some of the hunters in from P
Pennsylvania to Utah, uh, the hunters
are phenomenal long distance shots. So
there are hundreds and thousands and
hundreds of thousands of people in the
United States who could make that shot.
Um the the the thing we learned in
snipering is that you spent most of your
time learning how to ingress and eress
areas and not being not be seen because
the shooting was the easier thing to
master. And so you've got that um you
know to deal with. The other thing is it
appears, you know, I'd have to see the
distance of the shot to to know, but the
shot came out and there was no ejected
cartridge. So, either he picked up the
cartridge uh and brought it with him or
it was a bolt-action rifle and he didn't
he didn't eject it himself. Um the FBI
knows already um which it was because
they'll have the bullet by now. Um and
they will know whether it was a 30
caliber bolt action or a uh semi-auto
223 something like that. The FBI is
throwing everything at this and some of
their evidence uh techniques are just
mind-boggling.
>> But it seems like it was just one shot
and it was pre I mean, I'm I I I'm sure
you've seen the video. It's it's awful
to watch. It's all over social media.
But to to get that shot one time, you're
saying is is someone who knows what
they're doing.
>> It's someone who knows what they're
doing, but they're not um I wouldn't put
them up there with uh with a big-time
military or uh law enforcement sniper.
For instance, at uh at the FBI, um our
snipers were uh there to take out
suspects who were holding somebody
hostage. Basically, you're shooting at a
head from a from about 100 to 200 yards.
And our our zone, our acceptable zone of
shooting was about the size of a of the
side of a cigarette pack uh at 100 to
200 yards. So, this person missed the
head, the entire head of the of the
target and hit him in the neck. This is
a uh that in in actual professional
snipering would be considered a a wild
miss. Um but in it it doesn't take much
um with a high-powered rifle uh to to
take somebody's life.
>> So, you think that was a mistake hitting
him in the neck?
>> I do. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody nobody uh
nobody who is a serious sniper considers
the neck a prime a prime aim point. I
mean think about it. You're going to be
if you're a sniper, you've got to have
an aim point. Are you going to aim at
the head? Are you going to aim at the
heart? Or are you going to aim at the
neck or the elbow? You're going to aim
either at the head or the heart.
And the neck is not a primary aim point.
>> Interesting. Um, what do you think about
the fact that there's no video that's
been released or photo? I mean, other
shootings I've covered like this at this
point when no one's in custody, a lot of
the time they'll release something to us
to say, "Hey, can you get this picture
out?"
>> Usually, when they're asking the public
for help, it's because they don't have
anything. If they're not asking for the
public's help, they don't need the
public's help right now. So, I would say
that uh I I don't know what they're
going to do tomorrow. Maybe they ask for
the public's help tomorrow, but um my
guess is that they either don't have a
picture that would be useful for the
public to look at uh or they're way
ahead of us and they don't need
anybody's help at this point and so they
don't want um to slow down their
investigation. Remember, every time you
ask the public for help, thank thank God
the public helps, but at the same time,
hundreds and thousands of leads come in
and you're going to find that 999 out of
a thousand are useless, and that takes
up agent and police resources. So, you
don't want to send something out to the
public unless you're desperate.
Something else interesting, a few of my
buddies have texted me like comparing
this to Butler, you know, when President
Trump was shot and saying, "Oh, what a
mistake." You know, gosh, more security
lapses. But I don't think people
realize, and I've been I've covered
Charlie Kirk events before, you know,
he's just a regular citizen. He has his
security team obviously that is there to
protect him, but it's not like a
politician coming in where there's going
to be snipers on roofs and they're
really going to do some extensive
uh like pre-security plan. I I think
they're mainly just focused on
protecting him like almost in his close
proximity. I don't I don't know that
they really I don't know, but I to me I
when I've been to the events, it doesn't
seem like they're there way ahead of
time looking for sniper locations and
that kind of thing.
It's not the same kind of protection.
And you're absolutely right. They are
trying to defend uh in a close in
closein zone, people with a knife,
people who pull out a pistol, things
like that, which are a vast majority
historically of political assassinations
or somebody coming up and wanting to
shake their hands and instead pulling
out a pistol.
What his
probably very competent security people
know they can't do is protect against a
sniper 200 yards out, 500 yards out.
They can't. They don't have aerial
resources to um to scan all the uh scan
all the roofs. So they are doing the
best they can, but they know that they
that their ability is limited. I don't
consider th this uh necessarily to have
happened because they failed. Uh it
happened because their um their their
abilities and I don't mean their skills,
but their capabilities were limited by
the fact that they just don't have the
resources to protect against a
long-distance sniper.
>> So, what will happen tonight? I mean, in
tonight into tomorrow, I guess. Is there
I mean, there's obviously a ton going on
behind the scenes
>> right now. Uh you're going to have, as I
say, all sorts of different teams uh are
going to be split up and doing different
things. The FBI right now is probably
has probably got hundreds of agents in
route. Might even be on FBI planes. They
are on their way. This is going to be an
FBI flood. In the meantime, the agents
who are there, and by the way, I keep
saying FBI, the police are going to be
intensely valuable here and crucial. Um,
so you have police and police and agent
teams who are going going through all
the video. Uh, that's that's time
consuming because you can only speed it
up so much. Uh, and there other agents
are are out there simply just retrieving
video, finding out where every camera on
campus is. Um, some agents are probably
uh, right now with Utah Highway Patrol,
and I'll tell you why. I was an agent in
Utah for two years. One thing that Utah
has, as you you know right now, is only
uh, two freeways. You have the 80 that
goes east, west, and the 15 that goes
north and south. And when we worked
fugitives, it worked to our advantage
because you could stake out with highway
patrol basically four positions south of
Salt Lake City, south of Provo, uh say
north of Cedar City, or even down by uh
uh uh Mosquite, Nevada, where it where
it exits. um and and start even if you
don't see the car you're looking for or
or know what car you're looking for,
you're going to video everything and you
are going to license plate read
everything. So, if they go west out of
Salt Lake City on the 15, there's 8
hours of desert ahead of you. That's not
a good direction to go because you will
be caught. Uh if you go east on the 15,
you're heading over the mountains into
uh heading towards Colorado. that is not
a very uh um that's a route that limits
your ability to leave the route. So,
that's good. North on the um I'm I'm
sorry, I was saying the 15 east west. Uh
it's the 80 east west. The 15 north,
you're going up into uh rural Idaho and
going south, you're going all the way to
St. George. So, that person's not going
to get away unscathed if they try to
leave Utah.
>> Yeah. I was wondering when I was driving
out here from the airport. Um, I mean
it's rural, you you know Utah, it's it's
rural out here. There's mountains all
around. This is a pretty small town out
here.
>> And I was just wondering I mean if
you're the bad guy, if you're the
sniper, is it easier to get away in a
place like this than like say if this
happened in some big city?
>> No. No. Oh my gosh. If if I was if I god
forbid if I was that shooter, um I would
want this to have happened in LA where
there is no way that the police they
won't even try to cover roads because
there's too many roads in Utah. If you
decide to leave, you are very it's it's
called channeled. you are channeled on
certain things and there are enough
highway patrol and police officers and
FBI agents coming in to cover every one
of those routes. So, they're kind of
screwed unless they can try to get an
airline uh ticket out of there, but
trust me, they're going to be looking at
that, too. Um, this is not going to go
well for them. I don't expect this to be
a who done it. The other thing is uh by
now they probably have the bullet uh
whether it went through Charlie uh and
ended up in the ground uh or whether it
was recovered at the hospital. Um
they've got the bullet, they know the
caliber, they know the type of rifle and
they know and they will be able to match
that bullet to a specific rifle uh when
that rifle is located. So they'll be
able to make this case. It's just a
matter of how long it'll take to get
this person in custody.
>> And just my last thing, does it worry
you? Again, I'm just thinking back to
other ones I've covered where the people
are caught pretty quickly and they're
kind of amateur and you they make some
mistake. Like should we be concerned
that it's already been, you know, 12
hours when we're doing this interview
right now?
>> Um, yeah, it it's bothersome that it's
been 12 hours, but it's not surprising
that it's been 12 hours. And just
because it's been that long uh doesn't
make it um exponentially harder to
identify who this person is because
there are agents going through all sorts
of social media. People who do this kind
of thing leave a trail of social media
and posts and things like that. So
they're also getting suspects just from
that. So, um, and they are going to go,
by the way, back through all the Charlie
Kirk, uh, all the Charlie Kirk videos,
and they're going to find people who
are, I mean, they're going to look at
every single person they can identify
and find people who shouldn't be
traveling with Charlie,
>> and they will find this because the
person uh, who shot him uh, very likely
was at other at other meetings.
>> Yeah. had to sort of come up with a
plan. Um, well, Steve, I appreciate you
talking with me tonight. I guess we'll
see what happens in the coming hours. I
hope they get him fast.