• Shooter at large: A manhunt is underway for the shooter who killed Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative political activist. The FBI released photos of a person of interest and has offered a $100,000 reward for information.

• Investigation: President Donald Trump said that investigators were “making big progress” in the search for the gunman. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel is heading to Utah to assist with the investigation, a source told CNN.

• The shooting: Audio captured near the podium where Kirk was speaking suggests he was hit with a single supersonic gunshot, according to an audio forensics expert. Meantime, sources say phrases related to cultural issues were scrawled on a rifle and ammunition recovered by authorities.

As Charlie Kirk mobilized young conservatives on college campuses, he faced numerous personal threats in recent years.

And his stops on campus tours were often met with impassioned protests that sometimes spiraled into chaos and violence, leading some schools to adopt strict security measures around his appearances.

As authorities continue investigating Kirk’s fatal shooting at his campus visit in Utah on Wednesday – the first on another nationwide tour of colleges – they have not yet said whether he faced any specific, recent threats before the event.

In 2023, UC Davis in California limited tickets to a Kirk event to 1,000, and attendees had to pass through metal detectors and were turned away if they brought backpacks.

That event was still beset by confrontations, with someone jumping on a police officer, protesters smashing glass panes in the doors of the venue and members of the Proud Boys – a far-right group – clashing with demonstrators, according to local media reports.

Months before at the same campus, a 100-person brawl had led to the cancelation of an event featuring another Turning Point USA speaker.

Last October, police in Tempe, Arizona, arrested a man who allegedly made online threats toward Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. Court records show charges against the man were later dropped.

In 2022, authorities arrested a Texas man after he threatened a “day of retribution” for attendees of a Turning Point event in Florida.

Other apparent threats prompted hosts to cancel events in 2021, including at a church in Puyallup, Washington, and another in Eugene, Oregon.

In a post on X Thursday, Turning Point USA stated that Kirk had received “thousands” of threats throughout his life. “But he always prioritized reaching as many young Americans as possible over his own personal safety,” the group said.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego and the state’s Democratic Party will postpone a town hall scheduled for Saturday in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing.

The announcement comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that following Kirk’s death, lawmakers have asked for heightened security.

Johnson told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” that he is looking into that request, saying, “We have to take serious measures for serious times.”

Audio captured near the podium where Charlie Kirk was speaking yesterday afternoon suggests the conservative activist was hit with a single supersonic gunshot, according to audio forensics expert Rob Maher.

Supersonic rounds are fired from high-powered weapons. This finding rules out the possibility that a small handgun or similar weapon which fires rounds below the speed of sound was used in the attack.

Maher says that a signature “crack” and “pop” pattern, heard in the audio recording, suggests that the single bullet was fired from a rifle. Audio forensics alone cannot confirm the weapon’s model or variant.

Maher’s analysis found that the time between the ballistic shock wave’s “crack” and muzzle blast’s successive “pop” was approximately 240 milliseconds. With that time interval and an inferred bullet speed of 800 meters per second, the firearm would have been located about 153 meters from Kirk’s podium.

This finding aligns with CNN’s analysis that, based on visual evidence, the shooter took aim at Kirk from roughly 150 yards away.

Doug Deason, a Republican donor in Dallas, awoke Thursday to a long text chain from fellow contributors to Turning Point USA, the conservative organization Charlie Kirk led.

One person in the thread announced plans to double their contributions to the group and asked the others if they were ready to help build up the organization.

“Every one of us said, ‘Yes, I’m in,’” Deason said.

In the hours since Kirk’s death Wednesday after a shooting at a campus event, his allies have vowed to channel their grief and anger into developing a new, younger generation of conservative politicians and activists.

Fellow conservatives have said they won’t be silenced or intimidated by Kirk’s murder, part of a growing wave of political violence, including two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump and other attacks on figures in both political parties. They have argued that the best way to honor Kirk’s memory is to finish his work.

Deason, who serves on Turning Point’s advisory council and introduced Kirk to then-candidate Trump at a 2016 fundraiser, said there’s no question that the organization will carry on its mission.

Read more here.

As you may remember, officials had postponed a news conference this afternoon, citing “rapid developments” in the case. Though it’s not clear what those developments are, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) did just release an update saying there is still no suspect in custody.

Since most of the information had been released earlier today, here’s a quick rundown of the update from the DPS:

President Donald Trump spoke to journalists a short time ago as he left the White House. Here’s a quick recap of his remarks.

“Big progress” in search: “I hear they’re making big progress, and we’ll have to see what happens,” Trump said of the ongoing manhunt in Utah for the gunman who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Trump spoke with Kirk’s widow: The president said Kirk’s widow, Erika, is “devastated.”

“We had a long talk, and she’s devastated,” Trump told reporters. “She’s absolutely devastated, as you can imagine.”

Funeral plans: Trump said he plans to be on hand when a service is held for Kirk in Arizona in the coming days.

On his own safety: Asked whether he was concerned about his security following yesterday’s assassination, Trump said, “not really.” Protective measures have been ramped up in the wake of the shooting.

The state of the country: Instead, Trump said his concern was for the nation at large and again, without providing evidence, blamed the “radical left” for political violence in the country.

“We have a great country. We have a radical left group of lunatics out there, just absolute lunatics, and we’re going to get that problem solved. I’m only concerned for the country,” he said.

Trump said he would encourage his supporters to follow a model of non-violence in responding to the shooting.

This post has been updated with more of Trump’s remarks.

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a well-known media personality, and his killing is prompting editorial decision-making across TV, social media and other parts of the internet.

Take a look:

TikTok: The company told CNN it’s removing videos that show close-up views of the shooting and search terms like “raw video footage” and “actual incident footage” that were popping up as suggested terms. It is also deploying more measures to prevent people from unexpectedly seeing graphic footage of the incident.

Meta: The company told CNN it is applying a warning label to footage of the shooting, age-gating it to people 18 and over, and removing content that glorifies, represents or supports the incident or the perpetrator.

X: Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, used his personal account today to post a statement about him. Within hours, the post had been viewed 7 million times as of this writing.

Roblox: The online gaming platform told CNN it removed more than 100 experiences, or user-generated games, as of this afternoon related to the shooting.

Comedy Central: The channel said it will not air reruns of a recent “South Park” episode poking fun at Kirk. You can read the the plot line here. Kirk had reacted to it when it first aired, calling it funny and “a badge of honor.”

CNN’s Clare Duffy, Hadas Gold, Brian Stelter and Liam Reilly contributed reporting to this post.

Investigators are “making big progress” in the search for the person who fatally shot Charlie Kirk, according to President Donald Trump.

“I hear they’re making big progress, and we’ll have to see what happens,” Trump told reporters today before boarding Marine One en route to New York.

Trump added that the shooter was “an animal” and vowed to “deal with him very appropriately.”

When asked if he had any thoughts on the shooter’s motivation, Trump declined to go into detail.

“I have an indication, yeah, but we’ll let you know about that later,” he said.

President Donald Trump said he plans to attend Charlie Kirk’s funeral in Arizona in the coming days.

“They’ve asked me to go,” Trump told reporters at the White House today.

The president said he believed the funeral would be next weekend, but added that whenever it happens, he would be there.

“I think I have an obligation,” he said.

Vice President JD Vance was expected to accompany Kirk’s casket aboard Air Force Two today as it travels to Arizona from Utah, where Kirk was shot and killed.

The rifle recovered by law enforcement in the wooded area behind Utah Valley University’s campus and believed to be used in the killing of Charlie Kirk was a Mauser bolt action .30-06 caliber rifle equipped with a long-distance scope, according to a senior law enforcement official.

An expended shell casing remained inside the rifle’s bolt mechanism, according to the official.

The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk came at a time of heightened political violence in the United States.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to President Donald Trump and other Republicans blaming the “radical left” and Democratic politicians for the assassination of Charlie Kirk, calling it “irresponsible” and urging elected leaders to deescalate national rhetoric.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal also told CNN Trump’s blame game “misses the point.”

Watch some of the lawmakers’ comments below:

Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance have arrived at Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah today to retrieve Charlie Kirk’s remains and casket.

The remains and casket will be flown on Air Force Two back to Phoenix, Arizona, two sources familiar told CNN. Former Rep. Bob McEwen said Vance, who had a close relationship with Kirk, is also going to bring the family to Arizona, where they live.

Air Force Two is expected to land in Phoenix around 4:30 p.m. local time with the Kirk family and his body, according to a source familiar with the plans.

Vance will escort Kirk’s family and the remains off the plane, but will not leave the airport and will reboard Air Force Two shortly after landing, the source said. The family plans to take Kirk’s body to a private place.

Vance on Wednesday called Kirk a “true friend” and detailed his relationship with the conservative activist in a roughly 1,000-word eulogy on X.

This post has been updated with additional information.

A preliminary report sent by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated there were engravings on a spent cartridge and three chambered rounds inside a rifle found in a wooded area near the Utah Valley University site where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot.

The details in the report are unverified, officials familiar with the investigation told CNN. The initial report, also called a bulletin, typically include all information gathered in an investigation so that agents anywhere will know what is being collected — but the information is not always correct.

Two law enforcement sources told CNN that agents quickly ran an initial search on one of the markings, including a series of arrows, which analysts initially interpreted to be a connection to the transgender community. That information remains unverified and is still being investigated.

Authorities have not yet determined a motive in the killing.

We’re hearing from Republican lawmakers who are worried about their own safety in light of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin: Security was already a concern after the assassination of a Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker in June, Mullin said, but since Kirk’s shooting, the Oklahoma Republican says he’s received several calls from members and their spouses. Mullin, who is chair of the legislative branch subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said it’s “undeniable now that we’ve got to beef up security on every member.” Lawmakers have started the process of determining the cost, scale and threat levels, he said, but there are also some policy and funding hurdles to mitigate.

Sen. Thom Tillis: Lawmakers need to be “situationally aware” when they’re back home in their districts, Tillis said. “Hopefully we don’t have to get to a point to where we’re dealing with security levels that require Secret Service, but everybody needs to be on guard,” he added.

Sen. Kevin Cramer: The North Dakota Republican says he began holding fewer “highly public events,” where he lacks control, and increasing his media appearances. “I like being accessible, but being accessible is starting to look like being vulnerable. So I think there’s a lot of us that are concerned about that,” he said.

The US Marshals Service — the agency tasked with locating and arresting fugitives — has now joined the search for the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, one law enforcement source told CNN.

The US Marshals Service had offered to help with the search in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, but that offer was not accepted until the second day of the manhunt, which is still being led by the FBI.

It’s unclear why the marshals were not involved previously in the search as other officers from different agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations — a branch of the Department of Homeland Security — have been seen canvassing the neighborhood where investigators believe the shooter initially fled following the attack.

Law enforcement officials have stressed that as each hour ticks away and the shooter is not located, the search becomes increasingly difficult.

Retired FBI supervisory special agent James A Gagliano told CNN that if the search expands, that’s when the FBI “would absolutely bring the marshals.”

“You can’t just be looking in the neighborhoods and expecting him to be hidden behind a garbage can, but that’s a possibility,” Gagliano, a former CNN analyst, noted.

Personal belongings and other items remain throughout the Utah Valley University campus, where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed yesterday, showing the chaos of the moment.

“I was walking through inside the building, and you could see a banana peel, a half-empty bag of chips, people who had just left their stuff and ran. There were chairs knocked over, you could see the aftermath of that panic,” CNN’s Nick Watt said, describing the scene he saw earlier in the day.

Days before he was shot and killed in Utah, CNN interviewed Charlie Kirk in Japan.

Hear what he had to say in one of his last interviews:

As the hunt for Charlie Kirk’s killer is underway, federal investigators are going through nearby neighborhoods behind Utah Valley University talking to residents for answers.

Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said Thursday morning that officials were able to track the suspected shooter’s movements.

They believe he jumped off of a building where he carried out the shooting and then “fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood,” Mason said.

The White House is taking extra security precautions to protect President Donald Trump following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, two sources tell CNN.

The 9/11 memorial ceremony Trump attended this morning was moved from the Pentagon’s traditional site outside the building walls to an internal courtyard amid ongoing security concerns, according to a source familiar with the matter.

And when Trump visits Yankee Stadium tonight to watch a game against the Detroit Tigers, additional security measures will be in place in and around the Bronx location, according to another source. That includes security screening at all entrances and additional measures around the box where Trump will watch the game, that source said.

Trump was originally going to spend the weekend at Trump Tower in New York, but yesterday he changed his mind and now plans to head to his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.

CNN has previously reported that Bedminster, where Trump spent much of the summers during his first term, is considered an extremely secure facility. Trump traveled to Bedminster after the assassination attempt last year in Butler, Pennsylvania.