FBI director Kash Patel announced the release of a man initially thought central to the investigation into Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting. Photo / Getty Images
FBI director Kash Patel announced the release of a man initially thought central to the investigation into Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting. Photo / Getty Images
Hopes for the fast capture of the person who fatally shot right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in Utah, United States, evaporated on Thursday when Kash Patel, the FBI director, announced the authorities had released a man he had described as a central subject of a multi-agency search.
“The subject in custodyhas been released after an interrogation by law enforcement,” Patel wrote on his X account, adding, “our investigation continues”.
Two hours earlier, Patel had stoked expectations of a fast end to the search by congratulating state, local and federal officials for taking into custody “the subject for the horrific shooting today”.
The release of the subject, whose name has not been released by the authorities, capped a day of shock, fear and uncertainty over what officials described as a political assassination, committed in broad daylight in front of thousands of people who had come to participate in a discussion with Kirk, 31, at Utah Valley University.
The backtrack was a source of significant embarrassment for the FBI director on a day when three former FBI agents filed a lawsuit against Patel that portrayed him as a partisan neophyte more interested in social media and swag than the day-to-day operations of the nation’s flagship law enforcement agency.
The FBI has come under fire after releasing a man held in connection with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Photo / Getty Images
That the director of the FBI, historically known for careful messaging on fluid investigations – and deferring to local leaders – would personally take the lead in releasing information about the shooting was unusual.
It was even more unusual that he chose to post that information minutes before Governor Spencer Cox of Utah and officials from the FBI and local law enforcement were scheduled to provide the first on-camera briefing on the shooting.
Moments after Patel’s post, Beau Mason, the commissioner of Utah’s Department of Public Safety, told reporters his agency and the FBI would be working together “to find this killer”, suggesting the search was ongoing.
Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot in front of thousands at Utah Valley University. Photo / Getty Images
Cox spoke next, saying the authorities had “a person of interest in custody” but also that the police would find whoever had committed the crime.
In response to reporters’ questions about Patel’s post, the governor repeated his statement that authorities were questioning someone in custody.
Another person who had been taken into custody immediately after the shooting – and seen in videos that circulated widely on social media – was determined not to be the shooter, the authorities said.
