00:00Hello, I'm Rajini Vaidyanathan.
00:03A huge manhunt is continuing in the American state of Utah
00:07for the killer of the right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.
00:12The FBI has released new footage of the suspect fleeing the scene
00:15just moments after the shooting.
00:18A black T-shirt with American flag and Converse trainers
00:21have been highlighted as distinctive features of the suspect
00:24who fatally shot the 31-year-old on Wednesday.
00:28Well, the body of Charlie Kirk, who was close to President Trump
00:33and part of his inner circle, has been flown back to his home state of Arizona.
00:40Well, his family were accompanied by the U.S. Vice President, J.D. Vance.
00:46Hundreds of law enforcement agents have been combing through the university campus
00:49for further evidence, as our correspondent Netta Taufik reports from Utah.
00:55A new angle of the moment the gunman flees the scene
00:58after firing the fatal shot that killed Charlie Kirk.
01:03This video, along with new pictures of the suspect taken in a stairwell,
01:07have been released as authorities continue to hunt for the killer into a second day.
01:13Forensics teams were on the deserted campus, combing through the crime scene,
01:17and the gunman's elevated position on a rooftop.
01:20Here, you get a sense of his clear view of the stage where Charlie Kirk was debating a student
01:26before he shot him in the neck.
01:30Charlie Kirk's body has now been flown back from Utah to his native state of Arizona on Air Force II.
01:37Vice President J.D. Vance accompanied the 31-year-old's family on the journey.
01:41President Donald Trump plans to attend Charlie Kirk's funeral.
01:47Earlier, speaking to reporters, he urged nonviolence a day after blaming the, quote,
01:53radical left for the killing of the right-wing activist.
01:56He was an advocate of nonviolence. That's the way I'd like to see people respond.
02:01I spoke to Erica, his wife, and we had a long talk, and she's devastated.
02:07She is absolutely devastated, as you can imagine.
02:11The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward for information.
02:15But without any new breakthroughs in the case or insight into the gunman's motive,
02:21speculation is rife online, something that worries Utah's governor.
02:26Our adversaries want violence.
02:28China, we have bots from Russia, China, all over the world
02:34that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence.
02:37I would encourage you to ignore those, to turn off those streams,
02:42and to spend a little more time with our families.
02:46At this park in Orem, hundreds have gathered to pay their final respects to Charlie Kirk.
02:50He wasn't the only victim.
02:52These last few days have been incredibly difficult for the community,
02:55and especially the students who witnessed his killing.
02:58So this, a moment of unity during tense times.
03:01Netta Telfiq, BBC News in Orem, Utah.
03:05Well, the new video footage, which has been released by the FBI,
03:09shows the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk,
03:12running across a roof from where that fatal shot was fired,
03:16before dropping to the ground and crossing a road.
03:19Well, as the authorities continue their search,
03:22BBC Verify's Nick Beak's been looking at the footage
03:24and about what we know so far about how the suspect escaped.
03:30New footage released by the FBI shows a figure running across a roof
03:35from where Charlie Kirk was shot dead,
03:38reaching the edge and then jumping down,
03:41apparently carrying a bag,
03:42before briskly walking away from the chaos unfolding on campus.
03:48The hunt for Charlie Kirk's killer entered a second night.
03:51Special agents gathering evidence here at Utah Valley University and elsewhere.
03:56So what do we know about the investigation so far?
03:59The FBI have released these new, sharper images
04:02of someone they're calling a person of interest.
04:05But they still haven't given a name.
04:09BBC Verify used face search engines
04:11to try to identify him from an earlier image
04:14to see whether there could be a match online.
04:17But even though you can see more of his face,
04:20the image is too grainy
04:21and the sunglasses make it even more difficult.
04:25In the initial chaos after the fatal shooting,
04:27an earlier video captured
04:29what appears to be a person on a rooftop running away.
04:32The FBI says the bullet was fired from this building,
04:36the Lucy Centre,
04:37some 130 metres away from where Charlie Kirk was speaking.
04:42The new CCTV appears to show a person
04:45heading for this road called Campus Drive.
04:49Investigators say they recovered a weapon, a rifle, over the road.
04:53We think it could be in this wooded area here.
04:57Beyond the campus, investigators have been working
04:59to pick up the killer's trail.
05:01But there are clues left behind at the scene.
05:04Drone footage shows the campus frozen in time.
05:08Here, on the roof of the Lucy Centre,
05:10you can see these indentations,
05:12highlighted with these orange markers.
05:15The FBI have said they found palm prints and footprints.
05:19From this elevated spot,
05:21it was a clear shot towards Charlie Kirk.
05:24Nick Beak, BBC News, in Utah.
05:27Charlie Kirk has been credited with helping Donald Trump
05:31win the youth vote in the 2024 US presidential election,
05:37partly thanks to his engagement in debates and forums.
05:40He was one of the most influential
05:43and prolific conservative activists
05:45and media personalities in America,
05:48was also a highly polarising figure.
05:51Here's a bit more on who Charlie Kirk was
05:54and what he believed in his own words.
05:57My position on abortion is unpopular in my country.
06:01I don't want to scare you guys too much.
06:03I am in the vast minority of my own political party on this issue.
06:06Proudly.
06:07Because I'm morally correct.
06:09I'm on the right side of history.
06:11When all the chips are down
06:12and when all the biology is settled,
06:15it will be very simple and very clear
06:16that we have made every excuse in the book
06:19to try to eliminate life smaller than us
06:21for simply inconveniences.
06:23Trump has ordered DEI to be torn down,
06:26but I want him to tear it down faster.
06:29I want every university told
06:30that they're losing all federal dollars immediately
06:32if they don't stop racial discrimination.
06:34I want the Department of Justice to start auditing
06:37every federal contractor to find DEI
06:40and shut off contracts immediately wherever we find it.
06:43This is a kind of cancer that cannot be phased out.
06:47It must be ripped out from the core.
06:49We should have an honest and clear reductionist view
06:53of gun violence,
06:55but we should not have a utopian one.
06:56You will never live in a society
06:58when you have an armed citizenry
07:00and you won't have a single gun death.
07:01That is nonsense.
07:02It's dribble.
07:03But I think it's worth it.
07:07I think it's worth to have a cost
07:09of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year
07:12so that we can have the Second Amendment
07:14to protect our other God-given rights.
07:17Charlie Kirk, in his own words.
07:20Well, let's speak to Jack Ross,
07:22the chief executive of Turning Point UK.
07:26That's an affiliate organization, of course,
07:28of Turning Point USA,
07:29which, of course, Charlie Kirk founded in America back in 2012.
07:35Jack, welcome to BBC News.
07:37Unfortunate circumstances which bring us to talk to you.
07:42First of all, our condolences to you
07:44and all your members who are mourning Charlie Kirk.
07:46You've met him before.
07:49How would you describe the loss in your words?
07:55Thank you very much for having me on
07:56and for covering this in such extensive detail.
08:00We're shocked at Turning Point UK.
08:04Horrified, really.
08:05Charlie was a fantastic man.
08:06He was a very kind man as well.
08:08And I know you talked about a lot of controversial issues,
08:12but you didn't do this from a place of hate.
08:15His philosophy was,
08:16if we don't talk about controversial or important issues,
08:20genuine extremists will.
08:22And then you embolden them by not being silent
08:24about emotional topics as such.
08:28And likewise, his viewpoint was not so much
08:30to demonize or stigmatize people.
08:32It was to try and provide people with solutions
08:36to genuine problems.
08:38But certainly we are heartbroken.
08:43Charlie gave us everything in this country.
08:46He set us up.
08:47He's responsible for a lot of the political discourse
08:50in Britain as well as making a lot of careers.
08:54But we are rattled.
08:56And it's so wrong that he was killed
08:59whilst reaching out to people.
09:00He genuinely believed in reaching
09:02across the political divide.
09:04He didn't believe in violence.
09:05His discussion was to encourage debate.
09:08And you can watch his clips.
09:09They'd always end with both him
09:11and the other person thanking each other
09:13or in the majority of cases.
09:15And so he wanted to make the world a better place
09:21and certainly we're worse off without him.
09:24You've met Charlie before.
09:26I just wanted to get your personal tribute to him
09:29and what it was like when you met him.
09:31Charlie was an incredible man.
09:37He's someone who can never be stumped
09:39and that's what really impressed me about him
09:41where we always ask him for advice and information
09:44even about quite niche issues in Britain
09:47and he'd always be able to give a fantastic answer.
09:49He was incredibly well educated
09:50despite not going to university himself.
09:53And I think that was his most impressive quality
09:56as well as being incredibly kind.
09:59So after all of his events,
10:00he always made time for people.
10:02He had a fantastic memory.
10:03He'd always remember who people were
10:05and make an effort to speak to them.
10:07And even the students when he was on campus,
10:09he'd always allocate time for people to come up
10:11and take photos or discuss or raise issues with them.
10:14And that's who he was,
10:15a really genuine, kind, Christian family man.
10:17And it's just so horrible what happened to him.
10:21You yourself acknowledge that Charlie Kirk
10:24was a controversial figure.
10:26He was loved by so many,
10:27but many people did not agree with much of what he said.
10:31These are fractious and polarised times at the moment,
10:34aren't they, Jack?
10:35What do you think an organisation like yours can do
10:40to help bring people together at a time
10:42where not just in the US, but here in the UK,
10:45it really feels like these are testing times?
10:51Well, certainly, as I mentioned,
10:53Charlie tried to bridge the divides with debate.
10:56That was one of the nice things,
10:58always one of the nice things about Turning Point
11:00is I didn't agree with everything Charlie said.
11:03Charlie probably doesn't agree,
11:04didn't agree with everything I believe,
11:06but we can debate
11:07and we'd have that free speech to challenge
11:09and debate and discuss.
11:10Obviously, we don't know the full motives,
11:23but I think everyone can presume why this happened.
11:29We're certainly worried in the UK.
11:31We've had death threats from people.
11:33We've had people suggesting
11:34that we should be targeted in the UK
11:36as the British Charlie Kirks.
11:38And that's quite depressing.
11:43It's really sad to see all the abuse
11:44he's received online.
11:46And certainly from our point of view,
11:48say this has happened
11:49to a prominent left-wing activist,
11:51we wouldn't be out cheering.
11:52We'd be offering our condolences and support.
11:54And I think it is worrying
11:56how polarising things have become.
11:58But the only way to bridge the divide
12:01is to do as Charlie did,
12:02to go out and speak to people and debate.
12:04And even if you walk away
12:06from each other disagreeing,
12:07you can still shake hands
12:09and have that basic level of respect,
12:13I think, actually.
12:13And it's something Charlie really emboldened
12:16with his activism.
12:18Sorry, your line is breaking up a bit, Jack,
12:20but you did touch on something
12:21that's quite concerning
12:22that gets to the heart
12:23of some of the tensions at the moment.
12:26You say that since Charlie Kirk's death,
12:28your organisation has also received
12:30death threats here in the UK.
12:31Yeah, so we've had people say online
12:36and highlight, oh, by the way,
12:38there's UK turning point.
12:40Maybe someone should go after them.
12:41We've had people send us horrific abuse.
12:43We've had horrific sort of images
12:44of Charlie sent to us
12:45with laughing emojis.
12:47And it's really heartbreaking.
12:50Again, the internet isn't the real world,
12:53but it's certainly concerning
12:55that these people are out there
12:57and hold these extremist views.
12:58OK, Jack Ross, thank you very much
13:01for sharing your thoughts and tributes
13:04and, of course, your assessment
13:04of these current times as well.
13:07And, of course, worrying to hear
13:10the threats that your organisation
13:11is facing as well.
13:13Do stay safe, Jack,
13:14and thanks for taking the time.
13:15do stay safe, Jack.
13:26Do stay safe.
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