At 12:23 PM on 10/9, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close ally of former US President Donald Trump and a rising star in the Republican party, was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University (UVU). He collapsed on stage in front of approximately 3,000 people.

Within 10 minutes, the first agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office in Salt Lake City arrived, quickly securing the university campus. FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. also dispatched a specialized aircraft carrying forensic experts and equipment to Utah.

Less than an hour after the shooting, former President Donald Trump announced on social media that Kirk had died, calling him "someone who understood the heart of young Americans more than anyone.".

At 4:21 PM, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that the "assassination suspect has been apprehended". The FBI later clarified that the person arrested was only a suspect and had been released after questioning due to lack of involvement.

On the night of 10/9, Utah Governor Spencer Cox held a press conference, calling the incident a "political assassination". UVU campus police arrested another suspect for allegedly obstructing the investigation but confirmed neither of the two individuals detained that day was connected to the shooting.

On the morning of 11/9, investigators announced they had recovered a scoped Mauser rifle believed to be the murder weapon, along with fingerprints, palm prints, and footprints at the scene. Utah State Police and the FBI stated they had clear video footage of the suspect but were "not releasing it yet to avoid jeopardizing the investigation", describing the shooter as appearing to be college-aged.

Image of the suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk released by the FBI on the night of 11/9. Photo: AFP

Around 10 AM that same day, the FBI released an image of the suspect wearing a black shirt with an American flag and eagle print, a hat, and sunglasses. They offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the killer. By 6:17 PM, they released two more photos of the suspect in the black shirt.

Two hours later, the FBI released security camera footage from a parking lot near UVU, also timestamped 12:23 PM on 10/9, showing the suspect fleeing a building about 150 meters from the stage, carrying an object wrapped in a cloth, jumping down, and limping across a grassy area into a nearby wooded area. This individual matched the description of the suspect authorities were seeking.

The video was also shown during a press conference held by Governor Cox, along with Utah police and FBI officials, 30 hours after the manhunt began. They revealed that state and federal authorities had received over 7,000 tips and conducted nearly 200 interviews but had not yet located the perpetrator.

The turning point in the investigation came two hours after the press conference. At 10 PM on 11/9, a citizen reported a suspect, Tyler Robinson, to the police.

Investigative sources revealed that Robinson's father recognized his son in the suspect photos released by the FBI. He urged his son to surrender, but the suspect threatened suicide. The family asked a pastor, who was also a court security officer, to intervene. It was this pastor who informed federal authorities, leading to Tyler Robinson's arrest.

Police secured Utah Valley University after the assassination of activist Charlie Kirk on 10/9. Photo: AFP

On the morning of 12/9, former President Trump was the first to announce that the suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination had been arrested. "I’m very confident we’ve got him", he said on Fox & Friends, and called for the death penalty for the suspect.

Utah and FBI officials held a press conference about an hour later to release the suspect's identity, stating that Robinson lived in St. George, over 400 km from the scene. Booking records show that Robinson, 22, faces charges of aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and felony discharge of a firearm. State prosecutors are expected to file charges next week.

Investigators recovered evidence from the scene. DNA traces and fingerprints on the shell casings and the rifle are expected to bolster the case against Robinson. Some shell casings were inscribed with "Take that, fascist", along with symbols from video games.

The FBI asserted that Robinson had planned the attack in advance, from hiding the weapon and choosing a vantage point to his escape route.

Suspect Tyler Robinson. Photo: FBI

Utah authorities revealed that Robinson had discussed hiding weapons in bushes on the Discord platform. Robinson's relatives said the suspect had become increasingly interested in politics in recent years and had mentioned Kirk's event at UVU with harsh criticism.

Director Patel said the FBI had processed 11,000 leads by the morning of 12/9. The image of the suspect wearing the black shirt with the American flag and Converse shoes became the key to cracking the case. "The all-hands-on-deck effort by the federal government, along with our partners in the state of Utah and Governor Cox, resulted in an apprehension in less than 36 hours, 33 hours to be exact. That is a historic timeframe", he said.

Thanh Danh (According to NPR, CNN, Reuters, BBC, NBC)