It Looks Like The FBI's Silence Is Deliberate

I was puzzled when, as of last night, all the FBI had released was satatements that they'd detained and released two persons of interest and were asking for support from the public. But heck, I'm just a guy who watches true crime on TV, and I know that's not how this works. This is 2025 on a college campus. I remember 20 years ago listening to students at my alma mater bellyache about having to swipe key cards to get in and out of their dorm buildings. Even then, I had to swipe key cards to get in and out of my hotel rooms, and in fact there was consensus that this was improved security.

Now, I'm sure it's at least ten times worse. Cameras are everywhere, lobbies, hallways, elevators, outside. And as best anyone can tell, this guy got onto a roof to make the shot. How did he get onto a roof? I doubt if just anyone goes up some stairs and out onto the roof of a multi-story college building. At least what we're being told this morning finally suggests law enforcement has been looking in the right places:

Law enforcement officials said Thursday they have recovered the rifle they believe was used to kill conservative political activist Charlie Kirk and found other key evidence as the manhunt for the shooter expands.

The “high powered, bolt-action rifle” was found in a wooded area where the gunman fled after shooting Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, FBI special agent Robert Bohls said at a press conference.

Investigators have also collected a “footwear impression, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis,” the agent, Bohls said.

As I suspected, the investigators were quickly able to get video of the perp's every move, start to finish. Utah DPS Commissioner Beau Mason said at this morning's press conference:

“Through all that work last night, we were able to make a few breakthroughs. We were able to track the movements of the shooter. Starting at 11:52 a.m., the subject arrived on campus, shortly away from campus. We had tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to a shooting location,” he continued. “After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood. Our investigators have worked through those neighborhoods contacting anybody they can, with doorbell cameras, witnesses, and thoroughly work through those communities trying to identify any leads.”

People magazine reported a description from radio transmissions at the time of the shooting:

The person of interest who authorities believe killed Charlie Kirk was described in law enforcement dispatch audio as wearing all-black clothing and tactical gear, according to audio reviewed by PEOPLE.

The audio described a person in all-black — carrying a black long gun, wearing a black tactical helmet and mask, and possibly a tactical vest and jeans.

Other transmissions mentioned aviator-style glasses, a black bag, black long pants and longer hair.

Authorities immediately found someone who matched this description, but he turned out not to be involved:

Authorities said at a press conference that a person of interest was taken into custody, and that the person was wearing all-black.

So I'm not sure how seriously we can take this description, which actually sounds like something that could have been written by AI trying to limn Inspector Clouseau. The same applies to these remarks from Newsweek:

Former FBI Agent Stuart Kaplan said the shooter likely put a lot of preparation into the attack, telling Fox News' Jesse Watters: "This assassination, different to the attack [on Trump] back in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a very well planned, very well orchestrated plot that was put in motion days before.

"This individual had a plan of escape to elude detection of being out on a rooftop, and also being able to evade and elude law enforcement," added Kaplan. "This assassination of Charlie Kirk to me is indicative of a professional hit, and I'm not so sure we are quickly going to be able to apprehend this individual without some luck."

If I were a professional hit man, the last place I would want to remain anonymous would be a college campus, given the prevalence of cameras. As the investigators mentioned, the cameras tracked his every move, from the time of his arrival to his route to the rooftop, to his eacape to nearby woods. And frankly, who on earth would saunter onto a college campus carrying a black long gun, wearing a black tactical helmet and mask, a tactical vest, aviator glasses, and a black bag -- making him, if nothing else, incredibly easy to track with video? Not, I suspect, a pro. Here's what a professional hit looks like:

Just before 5:30 on a December evening in 1985, mob boss Paul Castellano stepped out of a limo in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan and was shot to death. The four assassins who gunned him down were conspicuously dressed in trench coats and Russian fur hats. John Gotti, the man who arranged the hit, sat in a car nearby to make sure “Big Paul” was dead.

As someone pointed out on Reddit:

Exactly… multiple people saying they saw a guy dressed in a Cossack and Trenchcoat and then another saying, yeah I saw both of them too, and another saying , wait I saw 4, then another saying, no, I saw six. Confusion abounds.

The four guys in Russian hats and trenchcoats were never identified, which was the whole point. A single guy on a rooftop, no matter how he's dressed, is far too easy to trace. In fact, notwithsanding the former FBI agent, I would go as far as to say this was a disorganized killer along the line of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the Butler shooter, or maybe even Robin Westman, the Annunciation Church killer. According to the Wall Street Journal this morning,

Investigators found ammunition engraved with transgender and antifascist ideology inside the rifle, sources said. A Justice Department official said the investigation was still in its preliminary stages.

This, if true, would almost point to the killer being a Crooks-Westman wannabe. I can't imagine the Wall Street Journal would print this without careful confirmation. But I also think the FBI so far isn't telling all it knows, and of course, there's nothing untoward about that when the investigation is ongoing.