USA Today Reporter dismantles Manhunt for Charlie Kirk Shooter
USA Today’s Will Carless Reports As the FBI searches for anyone interested in the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Orem, Utah – The FBI forensics agent behind the lost building at Utah Valley University was still collecting evidence on September 11th in a wooded area where agents in the forest said the shooter the agent used to kill political influencer Charlie Kirk had recovered.
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that it was an older model Mauser .30-06 caliber bolt-action rifle, citing law enforcement sources. An ATF spokesman declined to comment on USA Today, citing the active investigation.
An evidence marker on a small hill behind the building marked the trail taken by the shooter and appeared to be running through the trees towards a nearby construction site.
On the site, electrician Dylan Hope told his colleagues that he believed the gunman spoke to the gunman on Wednesday, September 10th. Hope said his colleague spoke to a young man who appeared on the site and asked if he could walk it.
“Before either the sirens or people went out, the suspected gunman spoke to the excavator man,” Hope said. “The excavator guy stopped him because we shouldn’t have anyone here.”
The man told construction workers he was “trying to go home safely” after the shooting, Hope said.
Officers later appeared with the dog and tracked the shooter down to the property next to him through the site, Hope said. He didn’t know if the shooter parked the vehicle near the construction site.
“I park here every day and didn’t see any cars that I didn’t recognize,” he said.
Shortly after USA Today looked into the site, the agent blocked it with a police tape.
Donald Lane, a former US Secret Service agent with decades of experience in the fugitive Manhunt, told USA Today that the recovery of the rifle used to kill Charlie Kirk is an important development for law enforcement.
“Recovering that weapon is absolutely enormous,” he said. “It’s a gold mine for information.”
Lane said experts analyzing guns can discover serial numbers that could go back to fingerprints, DNA, or perhaps shooters. He also noted other breakthroughs in the case, including palms and shoe prints found near the scene of the shooting.
Lane and other experts said each evidence significantly improved the likelihood of identifying suspects in law enforcement. And if a suspect is identified, experts said it would be difficult for a shooter to avoid detection given the well-known nature of the incident.
“We’re accused of retiring,” said Scott Duffy, co-director of Wilmington University’s Criminal Justice Institute and a retired FBI agent.
Tom Chittum, former assistant director of the ATF Associate, predicted that a single shot fired at Kirk showed that a bolt-action rifle was used.
“The .30-06 is a common hunting caliber, and the report shows it is an older model imported,” said former ATF Deputy Director Tom Chittum.
According to Chittum, traditional hunting calibers are used to hunt deer, and in this configuration, they are usually found in five rounds of magazines. A bolt-action rifle means that the trigger fires a round, and the shooter must manually chamber another round. This is the opposite of semi-automatic rifles where firearms use mechanisms to use subsequent rounds in the chamber.
“This is a longer shot, suggesting that a person has prepared and practiced, but you don’t necessarily have to be a police or military sniper to make that shot,” Chittam said. “In modern optics and some practice, that’s not an impossible shot.”
According to an analysis of USA Today’s satellite imagery, the shooter could have been less than 150 yards from Kirk.
Such short distances are thought to be within reach of the basic shooter. Army soldiers should pass the shooting test of rifles, including targets 325 yards apart, after only a few days of training, even those who lack non-combat work or previous firearm experience.
The .30-06 round used in recovered rifles will not experience any loss of gravity or wind destruction even at that distance.
The fact that the FBI has recovered the firearm will accelerate the investigation, Chittam said it will accelerate the investigation as it can track and test fingerprint and DNA evidence.
“I think it’s part of the plan to escape and throw it away. To carry a long rifle. “It certainly makes it easier. It has biological evidence and the trace itself generates leads.”
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
