By ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, JESSE BEDAYN and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

OREM, Utah (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the suspect in the Charlie Kirk killing has been captured.

“With a high degree of certainty, we have him,” Trump announced in a live interview on Fox News Chanel on Friday morning.

Trump said a minister who is also involved with law enforcement turned in the suspect to authorities.

“Somebody that was very close to him said, ‘Hmm, that’s him,’” Trump said.

Federal investigators and state officials on Thursday had released photos and a video of the person they believe is responsible. Kirk was shot as he spoke to a crowd gathered in a courtyard at Utah Valley University in Orem.

This undated combination of images provided provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP)

More than 7,000 leads and tips had poured in, officials said. Authorities have yet to publicly name the suspect or cite a motive in the killing, the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States.

Grisly video shared online

The attack, carried out in broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.

The videos show Kirk, a close ally of Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. Kirk reaches up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.

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The shooter, who investigators believe blended into the campus crowd because of a college-age appearance, fired one shot from the rooftop, according to authorities. Video released Thursday showed the person then walking through the grass and across the street before disappearing.

“I can tell you this was a targeted event,” said Robert Bohls, the top FBI agent in Salt Lake City.

Trump, who was joined by Democrats in condemning the violence, said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, visited with Kirk’s family Thursday in Salt Lake City. Vance posted a remembrance on X chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s Senate run and the 2024 election.

“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Kirk’s casket was flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Phoenix, where his nonprofit political youth organization, Turning Point USA, is based. Trump told reporters he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral. Details have not been announced.

Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

Kirk was a conservative provocateur who became a powerful political force among young Republicans and was a fixture on college campuses, where he invited sometimes-vehement debate on social issues.

One such provocative exchange played out immediately before the shooting as Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about gun violence.

The debate hosted by Turning Point at the Sorensen Center on campus was billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour.”

Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

The event generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry and constructive dialogue.”

Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

Attendees barricaded themselves in classrooms

Some attendees who bolted after the gunshot rushed into two classrooms full of students. They used tables to barricade the door and to shield themselves in the corners. Someone grabbed an electric pencil sharpener and wrapped the cord tightly around the door handle, then tied the sharpener to a chair leg.

On campus Thursday, the canopy stamped with the slogan Kirk commonly used at his events — “PROVE ME WRONG” — stood, disheveled.

Kathleen Murphy, a longtime resident who lives near the campus, said she has been staying inside with her door locked.

“With the shooter not being caught yet, it was a worry,” Murphy said.

Meanwhile, the shooting continued to draw swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials joined Trump and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the attack, which unfolded during a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties.

Tucker and Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington; Ty O’Neil in Orem, Utah; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Meg Kinnard in Chapin, S.C., contributed to this report.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The United States Naval Academy in Maryland was put on lockdown Thursday and a building was cleared in response to reports of threats made to the miliary school, and one person was injured, officials said.

The person injured was airlifted to a hospital and was in stable condition, Lt. Naweed Lemar, the spokesperson for the base that hosts the academy, said in a statement.

By early Friday, he said the lockdown was lifted and the academy in Annapolis had “been given the all clear.”

Naval Support Activity Annapolis security and local law enforcement had responded to the reports of suspicious activity, Lemar said. Additional details about the threat and how the person was injured were not immediately available.

Lemar had said earlier that the academy was on lockdown “out of an abundance of caution.”

Police were seen near Bancroft Hall, which houses midshipmen in its more than 1,600 dorm rooms. It is considered the biggest single college dormitory in the world, according to the school’s website.

By TIM SULLIVAN, Associated Press National Writer

The governor of Utah struggled to find the right words to describe the question so many have been asking: What is happening in America?

The silence lasted nearly 10 seconds. He looked down. He opened and closed his mouth.

“Our nation is broken,” Spencer Cox finally said, hours after the public killing of Charlie Kirk. The governor described violent attacks on both Democrats and Republicans, including the killing of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump and the firebombing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence.

His words stood out not just for the stark language about America’s troubles, but for his sober acknowledgement that the violence reaches across the political divide.

A makeshift memorial for Charlie Kirk is seen on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah, on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

It can be hard to remember all the scenes of political violence in just the past few years: Butler, Pennsylvania, the Minneapolis suburbs, San Francisco, New York City, West Palm Beach. And more. Taken together, they are enough to make Americans wonder: Is there a way forward? What might it look like?

“Nothing I say can unite us as a country,” said Cox, a Republican. “Nothing I can say right now will fix what is broken.”

A troubled nation

Many people, of course, feel America is broken. You can hear about the country’s many troubles — its ideological divides, its anger, its lack of civility — from conservatives and liberals, from socialist firebrands and evangelical preachers, from Democrats and Republicans. It is, perhaps, one of the few beliefs that unites Americans right now.

Attendees pray during a prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk at the Historic Lake County Courthouse in Tavares, Fla., Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

So many seem to genuinely want those divides to be mended, for the country to be knitted back together. But the question of why America is broken, and who is to blame, and how to repair it? That’s where things get complicated.

Because no matter what you believe, today — in both the myriad reactions to Kirk’s violent public death and in general — you can pick the America you want. You can pick the America that you believe exists.

You can see a president who is systematically removing the rights of Americans, or a president who is standing up for a forgotten middle class. You can see signs of fascism in the masked immigration agents hauling people off the streets, or an administration that is finally enforcing immigration laws for the good of all citizens.

In Charlie Kirk, you can see a polite, boy-next-door type with a captivating debating style who loved America, the church, his family, and the resurgence of conservatism across the country, especially among young people. Or you can see a political hybrid of the social media age, a powerful political operative who was willing to exploit America’s racial divide in search of support and who insisted, falsely, that voter fraud cost Trump the 2020 elections.

When Cox spoke mournfully about America’s predicament, he clearly hoped Kirk’s death could help bring America together. More likely, though, the killing could drive the wedges deeper.

Just listen to how people reacted to his death. Choose the take you want to believe.

A divided society, a divided reaction

In the hours immediately after the shooting, officials in both parties appeared anxious to show restraint and decorum, expressing their grief, support for Kirk’s family and repulsion at political violence.

“Words cannot describe the shock and horror I felt today,” Arizona Republican chair Gina Swoboda said in a statement, saying America “must never condone or excuse acts of political violence.”

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Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, who has sparred with Trump, said she was “horrified by what has happened to Charlie Kirk.”

“Differing views — regardless of who holds them and how much you may detest them — should never be met with violence,” she wrote.

Soon, though, even with only the barest facts about the shooting known, the anger began to spill out. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was praying that “this country rises up and ends this.” Then others began speaking up, with politicians warning about “leftwing Brown Shirts” and Christians under attack.

Trump quickly conferred martyr status onto Kirk, ordering flags lowered at federal buildings and blaming leftist rhetoric for Kirk’s assassination in a lengthy video statement released on social media late Wednesday. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murders and criminals,” Trump said, speaking from the Oval Office and citing only attacks on Republicans.

Democratic politicians, for the most part, appeared eager to avoid any sign that they were demonizing Kirk. But it wasn’t that way in some left-wing neighborhoods on social media. “Charlie Kirk isn’t a martyr,” wrote a commentator on X with 130,000 followers, echoing many others. “He’s a casualty of the violence he incited.”

That carried echoes of the praise for Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murdering the UnitedHealthcare CEO in Manhattan last year, and the explosion of social media memes celebrating the July shooting death of a prominent real-estate executive in the same borough.

The country’s politicians strive to balance it all

Online, of course, it’s easy to remain anonymous, and it can be impossible to distinguish true praise for political violence and vigilantism with adolescent trolling. It’s different for politicians, who can’t stay anonymous — and who are often looked to in moments like this to help show their supporters and constituents the way.

Unlike Trump, his presidential predecessors spoke far more gently, in keeping with their particular styles. Former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama said they were praying for Kirk’s family. George W. Bush called for divine guidance to move the nation to civility. Their statements sounded, unsurprisingly, like many of the things they said during their presidencies.

That kind of message took root in some places. In Connecticut, College Republicans and College Democrats issued a joint statement decrying violence. And on Wednesday, Cox — a Republican politician thrust into the limelight by tragedy, like so many public servants before him — spoke emotionally about a belief in free speech that goes back to America’s founding, and about how hatred can lead to violence.

“Is this it?” he asked. “Is this what 250 years has wrought on us?”

“I pray that is not the case.”

Today is Friday, Sept. 12, the 255th day of 2025. There are 110 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 12, 2008, a Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people.

Also on this date:

In 1857, the S.S. Central America (also known as the “Ship of Gold”) sank off the coast of South Carolina after sailing into a hurricane in one of the worst maritime disasters in American history; 425 people were killed and thousands of pounds of gold sank with the ship to the bottom of the ocean.

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In 1940, the Lascaux cave paintings, estimated to be 17,000 years old, were discovered in southwestern France.

In 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched its Luna 2 space probe, which made a crash landing on the moon.

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

In 1977, South African Black student leader and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, 30, died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.

In 1994, truck driver Frank Eugene Corder piloted a stolen single-engine Cessna airplane into restricted airspace in Washington, D.C., and crashed it into the South Lawn of the White House. He died in the crash.

In 2003, in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly opened fire on vehicles carrying police, killing eight of them.

In 2011, Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win his first U.S. Open championship.

In 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Linda Gray is 85.
Singer Maria Muldaur is 82.
Author Michael Ondaatje is 82.
Actor Joe Pantoliano is 74.
Photographer Nan Goldin is 72.
Composer Hans Zimmer is 68.
Actor Rachel Ward is 68.
TV host-commentator Greg Gutfeld is 61.
Actor-comedian Louis (loo-ee) C.K. is 58.
Golfer Angel Cabrera is 56.
Country singer Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland) is 51.
Rapper 2 Chainz is 48.
Singer Ruben Studdard is 47.
Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming is 45.
Singer-actor Jennifer Hudson is 44.
Actor Alfie Allen is 39.
Actor Emmy Rossum is 39.
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is 36.
Country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini is 32.
Actor Sydney Sweeney is 28.