FBI Seeks Person of Interest in Fatal Shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University

[00:03] So, we do have breaking news right now.

[00:05] We have the FBI who is asking for the

[00:07] public's help to identify a person of

[00:09] interest in connection with the fatal

[00:11] shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley

[00:13] University. They have released a picture

[00:15] on social media and it is a white male.

[00:18] He does look younish in his 20s. He's

[00:21] wearing a long sleeve black shirt, ball

[00:23] cap, sunglasses, a pair of jeans, and

[00:26] white tennis shoes. It looks like he's

[00:28] maybe climbing up the stairs in a

[00:30] stairwell. His t-shirt has on it, it

[00:33] looks like American flag and then

[00:34] something else. I'm not clear if it's an

[00:36] eagle or a gun. It's not sure, but they

[00:38] are asking for the public's help in

[00:41] identifying this person. You can call

[00:44] 1800 call FBI or digital uh tips. Go to

[00:49] fbi.gov

[00:51] digital media. You can any way find that

[00:53] information online. So that is has just

[00:57] been posted by the FBI in Salt Lake City

[01:00] >> just within the last few minutes and

[01:01] they're actually fairly good

[01:02] photographs. We're lucky to have with

[01:04] with us in studio this morning Brigham

[01:06] Tomco from the Desireette News who

[01:07] actually interviewed Charlie Kirk not

[01:09] long ago. Uh Brigham, what was the what

[01:12] was the occasion that you did that? Was

[01:13] it in anticipation of him coming to

[01:15] Utah?

[01:16] >> This was before his visit to Utah was

[01:18] announced. I actually found that out as

[01:19] I was talking to some of his staff there

[01:21] at his Phoenix campus where Turning

[01:23] Point USA has their headquarters. And so

[01:26] the occasion was I had for about two

[01:28] months been working to get access to

[01:29] Charlie Kirk because of the impact they

[01:32] had been having among young Republican

[01:34] voters in the country to highlight what

[01:37] they were doing and what his vision was

[01:38] for the future.

[01:40] >> So what did you find out from him? I

[01:41] mean, you posted yesterday on social

[01:43] media some of the comments that he made

[01:46] to you and and I could really relate

[01:48] with with them, but what was it you

[01:50] found out from him?

[01:52] >> What people think of when they hear the

[01:53] name Charlie Kirk or see one of his

[01:55] clips pop up on their social media feed

[01:57] is short, straight to the point

[02:00] rebuttals and debates on college

[02:02] campuses, often shutting down people or

[02:04] quote unquote owning the libs. What

[02:06] surprised me in my conversations with

[02:08] him is that his objectives were focused

[02:11] on institutions and individuals. He told

[02:14] me that his focus isn't provoking his

[02:16] political opponents. It's persuading

[02:18] young people to actually live more

[02:19] conservative lifestyles. And so if you

[02:21] read his book or if you go to his

[02:23] events, his focus was on young people

[02:25] getting married, going to church, having

[02:27] children, that was the kind of activism

[02:29] he prized the most. And then on the

[02:32] theme of institutions, he wanted Turning

[02:34] Point to become an institution that

[02:35] rivaled the New York Times, Harvard, and

[02:38] tech companies, he told me. And so

[02:40] throughout the conversation, and now

[02:42] this seems a lot more timely, is he

[02:44] wanted the organization to become

[02:46] something that outlived any of the faces

[02:48] of MAGA that became an activist

[02:50] infrastructure for decades. And it

[02:52] seems, Brigham, and you can correct me

[02:54] if I'm wrong, that Turning Point was

[02:55] really a a vehicle for him to to go to

[02:59] college campuses, to go see young

[03:01] people, to try to try to get energy with

[03:03] the younger generation with respect to

[03:05] the MAGA and other similar movements.

[03:07] Correct.

[03:08] >> Exactly. And so the model that Turning

[03:10] Point USA developed over the last decade

[03:13] didn't really exist on the Republican

[03:14] side of the aisle beforehand. There are

[03:16] now around 2,000 college and high school

[03:19] chapters where they bring in

[03:20] conservative speakers. They register

[03:21] young voters and that has around 850,000

[03:26] members. And I guess the most visible

[03:28] piece of this is last election cycle he

[03:30] visited over 60 campuses. He spent over

[03:33] 200 hours uploading the social media

[03:35] content of debates with students and so

[03:37] that's what they're most known for.

[03:38] >> His following was really ginormous. Like

[03:42] his numbers were just huge. He also was

[03:45] controversial. Did you have an

[03:46] opportunity to talk to him about any of

[03:48] the controversy surrounding him and some

[03:50] of his comments?

[03:51] >> Yeah, I did. And the way Charlie Kirk

[03:54] saw his mission and what he did was

[03:57] carrying out something he found

[03:59] scriptural basis for, which was boldly

[04:02] speaking truth regardless of the outcome

[04:04] and understanding that often a

[04:07] consequence of speaking truth is

[04:09] division. In his book, he actually

[04:10] likened himself to Jesus Christ saying,

[04:12] "I came with to bring a sword." And so I

[04:15] asked him about this and he said that

[04:16] peacemaking is his goal, but part of

[04:18] peacemaking is not beating around the

[04:21] bush.

[04:21] >> Wow. It seems like there was quite an

[04:24] embrace between he and Trump even before

[04:27] the election. And and it started Brigham

[04:30] as long ago as when Trump was president

[04:34] number 45, you know what I mean? And it

[04:37] I mean he was a he's just a young guy,

[04:38] but he's a real activist and he he had

[04:41] this conservative bent for for many

[04:43] years. and somehow attracted MAGA and

[04:46] somehow attracted Trump to his movement

[04:47] in a way that was really persuasive.

[04:50] He had a way to get people to trust him

[04:54] even as an 18-year-old in 2012 when

[04:56] Turning Point USA started and he was

[04:58] getting these Republican mega donors to

[05:00] support him. And in 2016, he ended up

[05:03] becoming close friends with Don Jr. and

[05:05] in 2020 heading up the Students for

[05:07] Trump outreach for the campaign. And so

[05:10] we see him being one of Trump's

[05:12] innermost circle or a member of Trump's

[05:14] inner circle since that time, advising

[05:16] him on cabinet picks, even the vice

[05:18] presidential pick. He was one of the big

[05:19] voices supporting JD Vance.

[05:21] >> Yeah, that's interesting. Speaking of JD

[05:23] Vance, we're hearing that he's going to

[05:24] come to Utah today. Do you have any

[05:26] insight on that?

[05:28] >> Only that we see

[05:31] people that are known across the country

[05:34] um for being MAGA spokespeople coming to

[05:36] Utah. uh Turning Point representatives

[05:39] JD Vance and others are coming here and

[05:41] uh it's unfortunate it's for such a

[05:43] tragic thing here in the Behive State.

[05:46] Brigham, I'm looking at the the TV

[05:48] screens behind you and three out of four

[05:50] have pictures related to this incident

[05:54] related to uh Charlie Kirk. We've had

[05:57] other shootings and other homicides and

[05:59] other things happening happen in our

[06:01] country within the last year. What was

[06:03] it about him that has drawn so much

[06:05] attention to him? Yeah, I think two

[06:07] things. So, he is one of the most

[06:11] visible people on social media, period.

[06:14] Last year, his content was viewed 15

[06:16] billion times across social media

[06:18] platforms. And different polling shows

[06:20] that twothirds of Gen Z and millennial

[06:22] voters came across his content and that

[06:24] influenced one-third of them to vote for

[06:25] Trump according to Signal Polls. And so,

[06:28] not only is it his influence and just

[06:31] his um omnipresence on the internet,

[06:34] it's also that his mission was free

[06:37] speech. It was open debate. Even if he

[06:40] said things that were offensive or

[06:42] polarizing, I think what this

[06:44] assassination has now um brought into

[06:46] the forefront of the public conversation

[06:48] is uh whether as a country, you know,

[06:52] that is a mission we all want to get

[06:53] behind. And um so I think that's another

[06:56] reason why this is drawing so much

[06:57] attention. And this is a moment of

[06:58] reckoning when it comes to free speech

[07:00] and just the campus political

[07:01] environment.

[07:02] >> So he he was 31. He was just a few weeks

[07:05] shy of being 32, which is half our age.

[07:09] >> Yeah.

[07:09] >> Um but but my it was he just really good

[07:14] at social media or was he it was it

[07:17] message? Like what was it that helped

[07:19] him catch fire? Because there's a lot of

[07:21] influencers on social media that age

[07:23] group. They don't have billions of

[07:26] views.

[07:28] I think it's because he had been in this

[07:30] space for so long there was a sense of

[07:32] authenticity that he wasn't being

[07:33] opportunistic around a movement. He

[07:35] actually cared about reaching out

[07:36] directly to the youth. And the way you

[07:38] could see that is he didn't just jump on

[07:42] the trending headlines and make a career

[07:45] out of clickbait. He was on college

[07:47] campuses talking to students like I said

[07:50] for 200 hours a year. And so I think

[07:53] there was just a sense that he actually

[07:55] listened to young people and that he

[07:57] cared more about the movement than maybe

[08:00] some of the other pundits that make a

[08:03] career out of just uh stoking outrage.

[08:05] >> Yeah.

[08:06] >> Thanks Brigham. That was Brigham Tomco

[08:07] from the Desireette News joining us this

[08:09] morning. And you talked about we talked

[08:11] about President Trump and his

[08:12] relationship to to uh Charlie Kirk. And

[08:15] at a remembrance ceremony at the

[08:17] Pentagon for the 24th anniversary of the

[08:19] September 11th attacks, the president

[08:22] actually talked about Kirk. We miss him

[08:25] greatly. Yet I have no doubt that

[08:27] Charlie's voice and the courage he put

[08:29] into the hearts of countless people,

[08:32] especially young people, will live on.

[08:36] >> And I've even heard that Trump credited

[08:39] him as one of the four or five people

[08:40] that were most responsible for him being

[08:43] reelected here in 2024. Yeah, you know,

[08:46] Bighgam spoke to us about um Charlie

[08:49] knowing that he you could build peace,

[08:52] but you sometimes cause division.