Month: September 2025

The FBI announced it is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA, during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

Authorities also released images of a person of interest sought in connection with the fatal shooting of Kirk, as the manhunt for the suspect (who is believed to be college-aged) continues. Officials said during press conference on Thursday that they are working “around the clock” to locate the individual.

The FBI’s Salt Lake City office said on X while sharing two images of the individual: “we are asking for the public’s help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.”  The images, which show a man wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.

Officials also released a new video on Thursday evening, which was played during a news conference with state and federal officials, of the person of interest. In the latest video, the suspected gunman can be seen climbing down from the roof of a building on the campus of Utah Valley University where authorities believe he fired the fatal shot and fled rom the scene. Authorities said they have received more than 7,000 tips and leads and completed some 200 interviews.

Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said on Thursday that officials said they have been able to track the movements of the shooter and have video footage of the individual. The suspect is said to have arrived Wednesday at 11:52 a.m. on the Orem campus, and then proceeded to travel through the stairwells up to the roof of a building near the where the outdoors event was taking place, before the suspect fired down at Kirk – who was hit by a single shot at approximately 12:20 p.m. and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

After the shooting, the suspect traveled to the other side of building, jumped off and fled off-campus into a neighborhood.  The FBI stated it has recovered what is believed to be the weapon used in the deadly shooting. According to Salt Lake City FBI Special Agent Robert Bohls, a “high-powered bolt action rifle” was recovered in a wooded area near where the shooting took place.   The rifle is an older model imported Mauser .30-06 caliber bolt action rifle wrapped in a towel. The location of the firearm appears to match the suspect’s route of travel, officials said.  he spent cartridge was still chambered and three unspent cartridges contained wording on them expressing what some law enforcement officials described as “transgender and anti-fascist” writing.  The firearm and ammunition have been taken by the FBI for DNA analysis and fingerprint impressions.

The FBI asked for tips from the public as the manhunt for the perpetrator continues, urging anyone with information, photos or video from the incident to share it with investigators by calling the FBI (1-800-CALL-FBI) or submitting images and videos to fbi.gov/utahvalleyshooting.

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Authorities confirmed on Thursday that the student who opened fire Wednesday at a high school in suburban Denver, injuring two other students, died Wednesday night of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The incident was reported shortly after 12:30 p.m. at Evergreen High School, located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains about 30 miles west of Denver.  Gunfire broke out both inside the school and on the grounds outside, with deputies arriving within minutes and locating the suspect about five minutes after they arrived.

The shooter was identified on Thursday as 16-year-old Desmond Holly. At a press conference, Jacki Kelley, a public information officer with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said Holly had been “radicalized by some extremist network.” Kelly noted that Holly had taken a bus to school that morning, used a revolver in the attack, and had “quite a bit of ammunition.” She added that “the suspect’s gun was fired a lot. The reason we have so many crime scenes is because we have windows that were shot up, we have lockers that were shot up. We have spent rounds, unspent rounds. It’s a huge area.” (per local news outlet Denver7.)

The attack appeared to be both “random and targeted,” Kelley said. One of the victims was shot inside the school while the other was shot outside; the two injured students were taken to nearby St. Anthony Hospital. One was released and the other was in critical condition, the sheriff’s office said. It did not release their names.

Kelley confirmed that none of the responding officers discharged their weapons, and said that more than 100 law enforcement personnel from across the region rushed to assist.  Three students — including the shooter — were treated for gunshot wounds, while a fourth student took themselves to the hospital with injuries sustained while escaping the high school and fleeing to a nearby elementary school.

More than 900 students attend Evergreen High School, located about 28 miles southwest of Denver and less than a mile from the center of Evergreen, a mountain town of about 9,300 people. Jefferson County is the same community where the 1999 Columbine High School shooting took place that killed 14 and injured more than 20. Those shootings were carried out by two Columbine students.

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Conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem, just north of Provo. Kirk, 31, was shot from the university’s Losee Center, roughly 200 feet away from where he was speaking when he suffered a single gunshot wound to the neck. Kirk was participating in an event at the school as part of his organization’s “The American Comeback Tour” when he was shot and killed.

The FBI said it is working alongside state and local law enforcement “to fully investigate and seek justice in the fatal shooting” of Kirk, with the FBI asking for tips from the public as the manhunt for the gunman continued, urging anyone with information, photos and video from the incident to share it with investigators.

President Trump confirmed Kirk’s death, sharing in a Truth Social post: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

A spokesperson for Turning Point USA also released a statement on Kirk’s death: “It is with a heavy heart that we confirm that Charles James Kirk has been murdered by a gunshot that took place during Turning Point USA’s ‘The American Comeback Tour’ campus event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. May he be received into the merciful arms of our loving savior, who suffered and died for Charlie. We ask that everyone keep his family and loved ones in your prayers. We ask that you please respect their privacy and dignity at this time.”

Authorities in Utah provided an update on the ongoing manhunt for the gunman, with state and federal agencies co-lead ing the investigation into what they believe was a targeted attack. The Utah Department of Public Safety said in a press release: “We initially took in George Zinn as a suspect. He was later released and charged with obstruction by UVU police. A second suspect, Zachariah Qureshi, was taken into custody and released after interrogation with law enforcement. There are no current ties to the shooting with either of these individuals. There is an ongoing investigation and manhunt for the shooter.”

The White House lowered its flags to half-staff within an hour after Trump confirmed Kirk’s death. The President also issued a proclamation ordering flags to lowered to half-staff at the at all federal buildings, embassies, consular offices and other U.S. government properties abroad until sunset on Sept. 14, 2025. Trump wrote on Truth Social: “In honor of Charlie Kirk, a truly Great American Patriot, I am ordering all American Flags throughout the United States lowered to Half Mast until Sunday evening at 6 P.M. “

Kirk co-founded Turning Point in 2012 at the age of 18, a conservative non-profit that promotes conservative causes and viewpoints at colleges, universities and elsewhere.  Kirk was a prominent supporter of Pres. Trump who courted young voters and used his network of nonprofits to seek to turn out voters on campuses and churches for Trump in 2024. A native of Illinois, Kirk and his wife Erika Frantzve were married in 2021, and the couple shared two young children.

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General announced Wednesday that they have opened an inquiry into the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) methods for gathering and publishing key economic data for the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index.

In a letter sent by Laura Nicolosi, the department’s Assistant Inspector General for Audit, to the BLS’s acting director, William Wiatrowski, the OIG announced the intent to review the department. The letter stated that “our focus will be on the challenges and related mitigating strategies for (1) collecting PPI and CPI data, and (2) collecting and reporting, including revising, monthly employment data,” adding that the BLS recently issued “a large downward revision of its estimate of new jobs in the monthly Employment Situation Report.”

The review comes just a day after the BLS announced its latest annual revisions, which showed nearly one million fewer people were employed in the year ending in March than earlier figures had indicated. Nicolosi did not specifically mention the revisions in her letter, however, she referenced worries linked to a recent “large downward revision” in job growth that appeared in the agency’s monthly employment reports. Nicolosi’s letter said the investigation would not only examine employment data but also look closely at the production of two critical inflation indicators: the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index.

The scrutiny also follows last month’s dismissal of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, who was removed by Trump after the agency cut job growth estimates for May and June by a combined 258,000. Without evidence, Trump alleged that McEntarfer had manipulated the figures for political reasons.

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Three former senior FBI leaders have filed a lawsuit against FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging they were dismissed under orders from the White House and the Justice Department.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, alleges that Patel carried out the firings to protect his own position, telling one of the agents that his job as FBI director depended on firing agents involved in past investigations of President Trump. NPR and MSNBC were the first outlets to report the lawsuit.

Patel allegedly said “he had to fire the people his superiors told him to fire, because his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the President .. Patel explained that there was nothing [anyone] could do to stop these or any other firings, because ‘the FBI tried to put the President in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.’”

The three fired agents who brought the case were decorated veterans of the agency who had served in senior roles. One of the agents, Brian Driscoll, had briefly been acting FBI director while Patel was going through the Senate confirmation process. Steven Jensen served as assistant director in charge of the Washington, D.C., field office. Spencer Evans had once led the Las Vegas field office, but by the time he was fired he had been removed from that position and was being relocated to the Huntsville, Alabama, office. According to the complaint, Driscoll indicated he believed Patel was referring to his superiors at the White House and the Justice Department which “Patel did not deny.” In the lawsuit, Driscoll, Jensen, and Evans ask a federal court to rule that their dismissals are legally invalid. They are also seeking a formal “name-clearing” hearing and reinstatement to their positions.

The filing comes after a report stated that Driscoll was removed from his role shortly after resisting a Justice Department order. At the time, DOJ sought a list of all FBI agents who had participated in investigations connected to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Driscoll wrote in a memo to FBI staff that “this request covers thousands of employees nationwide who contributed to those cases. I count myself among them.”

The FBI  and the Justice Department have not yet responded to requests for a comment.

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A judge in Michigan has dismissed criminal charges against 15 individuals accused of trying to falsely certify Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 presidential race in the state — a significant setback for prosecutors as similar cases in other states face ongoing challenges. The case had been pending since Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced the charges more than two years ago.

During a hearing on Tuesday, District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons ruled that the Republican defendants would not stand trial.  Judge Simmons announced Tuesday that “these cases will not be bound over to the circuit court, Each case will be dismissed.”

The group of so-called ‘fake electors’ — which included several prominent state GOP figures — faced eight counts each of forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery. The most serious charges carried potential sentences of up to 14 years in prison. According to investigators, the defendants gathered at the Michigan Republican Party headquarters in December 2020 and signed a certificate falsely claiming they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors.” However, former President Joe Biden won Michigan by nearly 155,000 votes, a result later upheld by a Republican-led state Senate investigation in 2021.

Electors, who make up the 538-member Electoral College, are responsible for formally choosing the president. In nearly all states, electors cast ballots for the candidate who won the statewide popular vote. Only Nebraska and Maine use a system that also allocates votes by congressional district.

Michigan’s case is one of several brought nationwide tied to efforts to install alternate slates of electors for Trump despite his 2020 loss. Prosecutors in Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona have filed similar charges, but none of those prosecutions have moved into the trial phase, with many slowed by appeals and procedural disputes.

In Nevada, the attorney general revived the case last year. In Arizona, a judge ordered prosecutors to return their case to a grand jury this past May. Wisconsin courts recently allowed felony charges against three Trump allies to proceed, rejecting defense requests to dismiss the case. Meanwhile, the high-profile prosecution in Georgia is effectively paused as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis fights an appeal over her removal from the case. Although Trump technically remains a defendant, legal experts note that prosecuting a sitting president is highly unlikely.

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