Charlie Kirk shooting: Kash Patel grilled at hearing, classes resume at UVU
FBI Director Kash Patel condemned political violence from both the left and right during questioning on Capitol Hill about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as students returned to class at the university where he was gunned down.
Kirk, a close ally of the Trump administration and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot on Wednesday, Sept. 10, while speaking to a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The campus was closed for several days before reopening to faculty, staff and students in phases this week.
The suspect in the attack, Tyler Robinson, was arraigned on Sept. 16 on seven felony charges, including aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Local prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty, a decision President Donald Trump has publicly supported.
Prosecutors said Robinson's DNA was found on the trigger of the rifle discovered near the attack. Robinson also confessed to multiple people after the killing, prosecutors said, including his parents and his live-in partner.
Meanwhile, Patel appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for a second day of testimony. On Sept. 16, he defended himself and his agency from criticism from Democratic lawmakers in the Senate who seized on conflicting statements released in the immediate aftermath of Kirk's death.
Vigil for Charlie Kirk planned at Colorado State University
Turning Point USA’s student chapter at Colorado State University will hold a vigil for Kirk at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 18, the day the organization’s co-founder was scheduled to appear at the university.
Kirk was shot and killed during an appearance at Utah Valley University, the first stop on Turning Point USA's "The American Comeback Tour." CSU was the second scheduled appearance on that tour this season.
The vigil is being organized and sponsored by student and external groups, CSU spokesperson Tiana Kennedy said in a news release. The university is not affiliated with or endorsing the event of its speakers, she wrote.
– Kelly Lyell, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Online platform CEOs called to testify after Kirk killing
Rep. James Comer asked the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch and Reddit to testify at an Oct. 8 House committee hearing on online threats.
"In the wake of this tragedy, and amid other acts of politically motivated violence, Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence," said Comer, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Reddit in a statement to USA TODAY did not say whether CEO Steve Huffman would attend the hearing. However, the mega-popular platform said it hasn't uncovered evidence that the suspect in Kirk's killing was active on the platform and has strict policies against content that incites violence.
USA TODAY has reached out to the other three organizations for comment.
Lawmaker presses Patel to turn down the temperature
Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat from Vermont, criticized the Trump administration for what she said appeared to be taking violence against conservatives more seriously than violence against liberals.
Balint pointed to a count of social media posts from official accounts condemning the assassination of former Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, versus Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative activist.
"It appears to many Americans that you’re valuing some lives more than others, and that's painful, and this is what I’m hearing from constituents," Balint said. She asked for his plan to turn down the temperature.
Patel said he could only speak for the FBI, but said, "What we are doing is we’re following the money, because whatever attack you are describing, and they are all despicable, equally so."
FBI chief says university rooftop was ‘readily accessible’
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican from Wisconsin, asked Patel how the suspected shooter could’ve gotten to the roof of a Utah Valley University building to fire the fatal shot that killed 31-year-old Charlie Kirk.
“Not commenting on the case but having gone to the crime scene and walked the steps that we believe were taken, the roof was actually readily accessible through an exterior stairwell so anyone could’ve gotten on it,” Patel said.
Patel boasts of fast resolution to manhunt for Kirk shooter
At his House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel repeatedly sought to take credit for releasing photos of the suspected shooter that led to the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.
As a result, Patel told House Judiciary Committee lawmakers, the joint FBI-local manhunt for the shooter took 33 hours.
By comparison, Patel said, “The Boston Marathon (manhunt) took five days and Luigi Mangione took five days,” in reference to the deadly 2013 marathon bombing and the slaying of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December.
Patel says FBI is working with Discord in Kirk investigation
Patel said the FBI is working with Discord, the gaming platform where Charlie Kirk’s shooting suspect allegedly communicated.
“Discord, the platform, ownership, has been working with our lawful process, and we are obtaining materials from them on a rolling basis,” Patel said.
A day earlier, Patel told members of Congress that the FBI was investigating scores of people in an online group chat with the alleged gunman.
Discord has confirmed the gunman had an account on the platform but said an internal investigation found "no evidence that the suspect planned this incident on Discord or promoted violence on Discord."
FBI director condemns political violence 'on both sides'
Under questioning from Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, FBI Director Kash Patel condemned political violence on both the left and the right.
"There is too much political violence based on ideologies from either side," Patel said.
Nadler then asked if Patel had seen a Cato Institute study finding more political violence on the right than the left, and Patel said he was not familiar.
The study, by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, found that terrorists motived by extreme slices of right-leaning ideology killed six times more people than those on the other side of the political spectrum between 1975 and Sept. 10, 2025. Since 1975, 391 murders were motivated by extreme ideology on the right, compared to 65 murders backed by extreme ideology on the left, according to the report.
– Aysha Bagchi and Erin Mansfield
How Charlie Kirk inspired and enraged millions
Over a decade and a half, Kirk became one of the nation’s most influential conservative activists, building a multimillion-dollar empire that he used to rally young voters across the country and help to re-elect President Donald Trump, whom he would count among his friends.
Kirk inspired millions of people and infuriated millions of others with his hard-line conservative views and often incendiary language on everything from abortion, race and gender to gay marriage and gun rights.
It was a career that would make him an influential ally to the White House but would end with gunfire on a college campus, the very place he first found success mobilizing a legion of young conservatives. Read more here.
Top committee members address Kirk shooting
At the start of the House Judiciary Committee hearing, Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, offered his condolences to Kirk’s friends and family.
“Charlie was a good man, a happy warrior who fought for principles and values I think make our country special,” he said, noting that Kirk was “a strong proponent of defending the First Amendment.”
Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat, chimed in, calling the shooting "brutal" and saying "there is never any warrant for political violence in America.”
When will Patel testify before the House?
The FBI director is set to field questions from House members beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
During Patel's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 17, he said a group chat with "a lot more" than 20 people was being investigated in connection with Kirk's killing.
The FBI director clashed with Democratic lawmakers, several of whom pressed him on his handling of the case. Democrats referred to a post on X in which Patel announced a "subject" was in custody hours after the shooting. Patel later said the person was released and a manhunt was ongoing.
Utah Valley University resumes classes after Kirk shooting
A week after Kirk was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University, the institution is set to resume classes on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The university began a phased return of faculty and students this week, first reopening campus to employees before resuming student services on Tuesday, Sept. 16.
"This is a defining moment for us all. May we not let hatred overshadow the goodness of our UVU community and what we stand for," Utah Valley University President Astrid S. Tuminez said in a statement. "As we come together and open our hearts to kindness and compassion, we will build an even stronger and more caring campus."
Obama condemns Kirk killing, says tragedy being used to 'silence discussion'
Former President Barack Obama called the killing of Kirk and other recent acts of political violence "horrific" during a speech Tuesday, Sept. 16, while criticizing President Donald Trump for using the tragedy to stifle debate critical to democracy.
Obama, the two-term president who remains one of the most influential forces within the Democratic Party, said Americans should condemn political violence when it occurs but also be free to debate the ideas espoused by the victims of such violence.
Speaking to a crowd of 8,000 people at the Erie Insurance Arena, Obama drew sharp differences with Trump throughout the evening, without ever saying the president’s name.
"I've noticed that there's been some confusion around this lately coming from the White House and some of the other positions of authority that suggest we're going to identify an enemy, we're going to suggest that somehow that enemy was at fault, and we are then going to use that as a rationale for trying to silence discussion around who we are as a country and what direction we should go. And that’s a mistake," the former president said.
– Matthew Rink, USA TODAY NETWORK
What we know about Tyler Robinson
According to court records, Robinson had been planning the attack for a week and used a weapon he described as "grandpa's rifle." Robinson, court records said, later messaged his roommate, with whom he was in a romantic relationship, after the fatal shooting.
Those were among the details contained in a 10-page charging document released by Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray, who held a news conference after he charged Robinson, a former straight-A student from Utah, with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering for instructing his roommate not to cooperate in Kirk's death.
The charges include the allegation that Robinson targeted Kirk because of "Robinson’s belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk’s political expression."
Robinson’s mother told police that her son had begun to date his transgender roommate, court documents said. Read more here.
– Chris Kenning, Nick Penzenstadler, and Christopher Cann
Could Charlie Kirk murder suspect face the firing squad if convicted?
The decision of Utah officials to pursue the death penalty in their case against Robinson opens the door to another question: Since Utah allows execution by firing squad or lethal injection, which of the two would likely be used in the event of a conviction and death sentence?
While most executions in the U.S. are carried out by lethal injection, Robinson faces trial in Utah, which is only one of two death penalty states that have used the firing squad in modern U.S. history. Utah and South Carolina have executed just five inmates by firing squad since 1977, though two of those executions happened this year.
Before 2025, only Utah had carried out firing squad executions: in 1977, 1996, and 2010.
Utah was just days away from conducting a firing squad execution this month before the Utah Supreme Court intervened. The state was set to execute Ralph Menzies by firing squad on Sept. 5 for the 1986 murder of a married mother of three. Though Menzies chose the firing squad decades ago, the state's high court halted it over concerns about his current dementia and whether he still understands why he's being executed. Read more here.
– Amanda Lee Myers
Patel returns to Congress after clashing with Senate Dems over Kirk probe
FBI Director Kash Patel returns to Congress on Wednesday after facing tough questions from Senate Democrats over the agency’s handling of major investigations, such as the assassination of Kirk, and at times got into shouting matches with them.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Patel's tweet the night of Kirk’s killing that inaccurately announced a subject was in custody in relation to the investigation.
"Mr. Patel was so anxious to take credit for finding Mr. Kirk’s assassin that he violated one of the basics of effective law enforcement: At critical stages of an investigation, shut up and let the professionals do their job," Durbin said.
Patel later said under questioning from Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, that he did not regret the post or see it as a mistake, maintaining that he put that information out as part of his commitment to working with the public.
"If you put out a statement that says, 'We've got our man,' and in fact it turns out that you didn't have your man, that's not a mistake?" Welch later responded.
– Erin Mansfield and Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY
Contributing: Michael Collins, Trevor Hughes, Michael Loria and Lauren Villagran