New footage shows suspect jumping off roof, fleeing Kirk assassination scene

FBI special agent Robert Bohls said officers had recovered a high-powered bolt action rifle they believed was used by the shooter. It was recovered from a nearby wooded area where the suspect had fled.

“We’re doing everything we can to find him. We’re not sure how far he has gone,” Bohls said.

Trump hails Kirk as ‘a giant of his generation’

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance travelled to Salt Lake City to meet Kirk’s grieving family members. He then flew Kirk’s family and a casket containing the 31-year-old’s body back to Phoenix, Arizona on Air Force Two.

President Donald Trump spoke to Kirk’s family by phone, noting they were “absolutely devastated”. Kirk had a wife, Erika, and two young children. Trump said he intended to attend the funeral.

The assassination of the prominent conservative activist, evangelical Christian and key Trump ally has rocked American politics, particularly among Republicans and Trump’s MAGA base.

Trump announced he would posthumously award Kirk the nation’s highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “He was giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people”, Trump said.

Speaking at the Pentagon in Washington at a memorial for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Trump said the US was a nation that would always honour its heroes.

“There’s a group of people that don’t want to talk about our heroes, but we will always talk about our heroes,” he said. “We will defend the nation they serve, the values they upheld and the freedom for which they died. We will build taller, grow stronger, fight harder and soar higher.”

Kirk was fatally shot while appearing at the first stop on a speaking tour of college campuses in which he was to invite opponents to debate him on stage. The assassination has again put focus on America’s problem with political violence.

It follows the assassination of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota three months ago, alongside an attempt on the life of her colleague, an arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro and the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally last year.

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“This is a dark moment for America,” Trump said in a video message to the nation on Wednesday night, US time. “It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonising those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible.”

The president went on to blame the “radical left” for comparing Kirk to Nazis and mass murderers – rhetoric he said was “directly responsible for the terrorism we are seeing in our country today”.

The Wall Street Journal reported Trump’s team was tightening security following Kirk’s assassination.

The September 11 ceremony was moved to a more secure location, while additional measures will be in place when Trump attends a baseball game on Thursday evening in New York, according to the report.

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Beyond this week’s events, Trump’s team is having broader discussions about how to increase the president’s security, the Journal added.

Meanwhile, several historically Black colleges and universities on Thursday placed students and staff under lockdown, citing potential threats. Spelman College, Hampton University, Virginia State University, Bethune Cookman University, Southern University and Alabama State University were among those that suspended classes and required students living on campus to shelter in place.

With Bloomberg, Reuters