Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being here. At this press conference we will first hear from Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason. Then we'll hear from the FBI special agent in charge, Robert Bohls. We'll then hear from Utah Valley University Vice President Val Peterson, who's been in touch with President Tuminez. And then we'll hear from Governor Cox.
(00:26)
I'll turn the time over to Commissioner Mason.
Beau Mason (00:45):
Hello, everyone. I'm Beau Mason, commissioner for the Utah Department of Public Safety. Today, at approximately 12:20 Mountain Standard Time political influencer Charlie Kirk was shot in an event at the Utah Valley University. He was taken by private vehicle to Timpanogos Hospital, where he later passed.
(01:09)
The Utah Department of Public Safety will be co-leading this criminal investigation to find this killer, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We are working in unison with the county sheriff's office, the local police department, and the university police department, all of which have been very cooperative and fully engaged in this process.
(01:30)
Shortly after the shooting, we did have a suspect in custody, George Zinn, but he was released from custody after we identified that he did not match the shooting suspect and was not an accurate person of interest. However, he has been booked into the county jail by Utah Valley University Police Department for obstruction of justice.
(01:53)
We do still have an active investigation for the person of interest. This incident occurred with a large crowd around. There was one shot fired and one victim. While the suspect is at large, we believe this was a targeted attack towards one individual. This is a tragic moment in our state and in our country. As we heal, we encourage everyone who is struggling with news of the incident to call 988, our state mental health crisis line. In addition to that, our partners with the FBI will also be discussing other ways we can communicate through the public for tips and other information. Thank you.
Robert Bohls (02:40):
Good afternoon. On behalf of the FBI, we extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. Our thoughts are also with the people who witnessed this traumatic event. We know that what you experienced was very difficult. Our thoughts are with you as well.
(03:02)
As soon as we heard about the shooting, special agents and personnel from the Salt Lake field office responded immediately. We have full resources devoted to this investigation, including tactical, operational, investigative and intelligence. To be clear, the FBI will fully support and co-lead this investigation alongside with our partners. We are working on setting up a digital media tip line and as soon as it's established, we'll get that information out to everyone.
(03:32)
I know there's a lot of questions. This is very much an active case and this investigation is in its early stages. We are following all the leads and all the evidence. If anyone has any information, please report it to the FBI or local law enforcement. Thank you.
Val Peterson (03:49):
On behalf of President Tuminez who we've been communicating with and she's on her way back right now, I say that on behalf of Utah Valley University, we are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk. We express our sincere condolences to the Kirk family.
(04:06)
We grieve with our students, faculty, and staff who were witness to this unspeakable tragedy. He was invited by the student group Turning Point USA to speak on our campus. We firmly believe that UVU is a place to share ideas and to debate openly and respectfully. Any attempt to infringe on those rights has no place here. We do not condone any form of violence at UVU and seek to make our campus a safe place for all.
Spencer Cox (04:40):
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this dark and tragic occasion. I want to thank our law enforcement officers who are leading this investigation, starting with Chief Long, and his response here with the UVU Police Department. We're grateful for your leadership and your team. And again to the speakers that you've just heard from who are co-leading this investigation. I also want to recognize Sheriff Mike Smith, who has been an invaluable partner as this investigation moves forward. I've been in touch with President Trump, with FBI Director Kash Patel. We are completely aligned with our state and federal partners as we work through this case.
(05:30)
Now, this is a dark day for our state, it's a tragic day for our nation. And I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination. We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation, that founding document, the Declaration of Independence that this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago, that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. The first one of those is life. And today, a life was taken.
(06:20)
Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to two young children. He was also very much politically involved and that's why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people. Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that's what he does, he comes on college campuses and he debates. That is foundational to the formation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights. And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened.
(07:35)
Now, we have a person of interest in custody. The investigation is ongoing, but I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this, we will find you, we will try you, and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.
(08:13)
Our nation is broken. We've had political assassinations recently in Minnesota. We had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania, and we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former president of the United States and now current president of the United States. Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken. Nothing I can say can bring back Charlie Kirk.
(08:57)
Our hearts are broken. We mourn with his wife, his children, his family, his friends. We mourn as a nation. If anyone in the sound of my voice celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere. I don't care what his politics are. I care that he was an American.
(09:37)
We desperately need our country. We desperately need leaders in our country, but more than the leaders, we just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be, to ask ourselves, is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us? I pray that that's not the case. I pray that those who hated what Charlie Cook stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family, and that all of us, all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans. With that, we're happy to take a few questions.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
The FBI director is posting that a suspect is in custody. I would just like clarification, do you or do you not have a suspected shooter in custody?
Spencer Cox (10:44):
We have a person of interest in custody that is being interviewed right now.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
That is not George Zinn?
Spencer Cox (10:50):
That is not George Zinn. That is correct.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
Okay. Is there any indication of foreign involvement?
Speaker 7 (10:55):
Are you still searching or looking for another shooter or anybody else related to this?
Spencer Cox (10:58):
Yes, we are actively looking for anyone and everyone who has any possible information relating to the shooting.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
Can you tell us details about the suspect being taken into custody, where, how long ago?
Spencer Cox (11:13):
We cannot at this point, but we will get you that information when we can.
Speaker 6 (11:18):
Is there believed to be a second individual involved in the shooting?
Spencer Cox (11:22):
At this point there is no information that would lead us to believe that there is a second person involved.
Speaker 8 (11:28):
Can you guys talk-
Speaker 9 (11:29):
Can we have a description of the possible shooter?
Spencer Cox (11:36):
Do you want to talk about what we know there?
Beau Mason (11:37):
Yeah. The only information we have on the suspect, the possible shooter is taken from closed-circuit TV here on campus. We do have that, we're analyzing it, but it is security camera footage, so you can kind of guess what the quality of that is, but we do know dressed in all dark clothing, but we don't have much better description other than that.
Speaker 10 (12:02):
So to clarify-
Speaker 7 (12:03):
Where do you think the shot came from?
Beau Mason (12:04):
The shot came from here on campus from a location at a-
Speaker 7 (12:10):
From a roof?
Beau Mason (12:12):
Potentially from a roof, yes. A longer distance shot from a roof.
Speaker 10 (12:16):
So to clarify, with the security camera footage you have and the person of interest that's in custody, does that match up?
Beau Mason (12:23):
That's what we're trying to decipher right now.
Speaker 6 (12:26):
Did the FBI or DHS have anything on the threat board this morning?
Beau Mason (12:27):
I can't speak to that.
Robert Bohls (12:33):
I'll just say that the investigation's ongoing and as soon as we have further information, we will be sure to release it.
Speaker 6 (12:37):
Any indications of foreign intelligence involved in this?
Robert Bohls (12:40):
As of now, I can't comment on any of that.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 11 (12:42):
Can you talk a little bit about the security of the event itself, who was there security-wise and what happens on these kind of events?
Spencer Cox (12:50):
Chief Long?
Jeff Long (12:52):
So my name is Jeff Long. I'm the police chief here at UVU, and I'll tell you right now, we are devastated. We're a small police department. We have a very large campus. We have over 40,000 students, and we love our students and we love our visitors, and we're devastated by what happened today. This is a police chief's nightmare.
(13:09)
I'm very saddened for the Kirk family. I know his wife and parents found out about this. Obviously, he's away from home. He's here in Utah. They find out by a police officer that visits their home. That's tragic. Nobody wants that. But I can tell you about our venue today. This was an open venue. This was outside. We did have six officers working that event. We had probably over 3,000 people that were in attendance, sat down in kind of a bowl area here on the central campus. We have a waterfall area, and so he was in a lower area surrounded by buildings.
(13:48)
We had some plainclothes police officers that were in the crowd as well. We trained for these things and you think you had things covered and these things, unfortunately, they happen. You try to get your bases covered and unfortunately today we didn't. And because of that, we had this tragic incident. So, we did have officers there. We had Charlie Kirk's team. He has a security team that travels with him and they were here with him when he was shot.
Speaker 13 (14:20):
Was the gun recovered?
Jeff Long (14:22):
I'm sorry?
Speaker 13 (14:23):
Was the weapon recovered?
Jeff Long (14:27):
At this point, I can't disclose that.
Speaker 10 (14:28):
When Charlie Kirk was shot, there was a question being asked about mass shooting. Was that person apprehended and do you know who asked that question?
Jeff Long (14:37):
Say the question again. I don't know if I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 10 (14:39):
When Charlie Kirk was shot, he was answering a question about mass shootings specifically. Was that person apprehended and do you know who asked that question?
Jeff Long (14:48):
I do not. We do not have that at this moment.
Speaker 13 (14:51):
What kind of weapon was used?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for just one more question, so thank you.
Speaker 14 (14:56):
Yeah. A question for the chief as well. Was it your team or Kirk's team or a combination of both that kind of set the security protocol for the event?
Jeff Long (15:06):
So we work together. He has his team and they do this all over the country, we all know. That this is not uncommon for them. They're very comfortable on campuses. And I was coordinating with his lead security guy. So yeah, we were working together.
Speaker 15 (15:20):
Was this a sharpshooter type shot? Was this a sharpshooter-
Spencer Cox (15:24):
Ladies and gentlemen, those are all the questions that will be answered today. Again, thank you for covering this. We'll be updating you as soon as we have additional information through normal channels working with law enforcement.
(15:39)
Again, our deepest condolences to the Kirk family and to the students who were there today. And I would just ask everyone everywhere to please pray for their family and to pray for our country. We need it now more than ever. Thank you.