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New Video and Images Released of Suspect in Charlie Kirk Killing; Manhunt Intensifies for Killer of Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk; Trump Says Suspect in Kirk Killing Is In Custody. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 12, 2025 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, Sanjay, I'm not supposed to be here.

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 10 p.m. Eastern for the "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" one hour special.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL STARTS NOW.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we just learned that a news conference has been scheduled in the manhunt for the person who killed Charlie Kirk. We are standing by for that.

So President Trump claims there's no inflation. That's not what the data just said. Americans are starting to see costs rise at the grocery store.

And police respond to a possible break-in at a home shooting the victim who was trying to protect his property.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

And the breaking news. We're about to get some news. We're standing by for a news conference just announced in the manhunt for the person who killed Charlie Kirk. We don't know what officials have to say, but we will bring that to you live.

Overnight, there was a lot of new information provided, new images of the suspect, new surveillance video from the moments after the shooting. According to investigators, this is the suspect running across the roof on the Utah Valley University campus, then jumping off the building. You can see him getting down right there. Some experts look at that and say he knows what he's doing in terms of climbing. And then you see him escaping into a wooded area.

Utah police say they're not sure that he's even still in the state. We'll see if that holds when we hear from them very shortly.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox says authorities have received more than 7,000 leads and tips. They've conducted nearly 200 interviews. The FBI now offering a reward of up to $100,000 in the case.

Let's get right to CNN's Nick Watt. He's been on the ground in Orem, Utah, all along. We're about to get more information from authorities who very regularly, Nick, been updating us.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. It's just turned 6 a.m. here in Utah, and we are expecting to get an update. You know, all day yesterday, we saw increments.

In the morning, they said, we've got some good images. They weren't releasing them. They figured they could get an I.D. themselves using tech. Then they did release those images. Then last night, they released even more images, clearer shots of this suspect and an appeal to the public for more help. As the governor here said, we cannot do our job without the public's help.

Now, we don't know if that help from the public has turned anything up yet, but we are waiting to hear. So the images that we saw, the suspect wearing a distinctive cap with a triangle on the front, a distinctive black T-shirt with an American flag and an eagle on the front, some Converse sneakers. We also got a view of the location that we believe this shooter was lying in when he shot Charlie Kirk in the courtyard here at the UVU University.

We also saw this extraordinary video released of the suspect running across the roof and jumping off that roof. Decent-sized drop. Didn't look like he was hurt, but in the process, left a forearm print, left a palm print and left a footprint when he hit the ground. That also enabled investigators to follow the suspect into the wooded area where later they found that high-powered bolt-action rifle that they believe the suspect used to fire that one shot that hit Charlie Kirk in the neck.

So plenty of personnel here on the scene. We've got Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, arrived here last night. The U.S. Marshals yesterday were brought in to help with the manhunt. So plenty of personnel. But all through the day yesterday, it seemed that they really weren't necessarily getting anywhere because they were bringing in this extra personnel. They were putting out that $100,000 reward. They were looking for more information.

Today, let's see what transpires as the sun rises here and we hear from officials. But those images have now been out there for a few hours. Perhaps that has triggered something. We will see.

We've also spoken -- CNN has spoken to somebody on the campus here who saw about almost exactly a week before the shooting, saw somebody that they described as a tall, skinny-ish white dude on the roof of that building. Looked like he was perhaps scoping out. We don't know that for sure.

Of course, a professor called up to this person and said, hey, you all right there? The person ignored them.

So right now, John, as I say, 6 a.m. here in Utah, more than 40 hours since Charlie Kirk was shot and we are waiting for an update -- John. [08:05:00]

BERMAN: I think you laid out the data points we have really, really well, Nick. The question is, will there be more in less than one hour? Thank you so much for being there. We'll let you get to that news conference -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, joining us right now is Chris Swecker, the former FBI assistant director for the Criminal Investigative Division. Chris, thanks for jumping on.

So now we have another update coming, another press conference coming from the governor, FBI director, and the commissioner of public safety and more. At this point, what do you think -- I mean, we can learn a million things, but after they released all of the imagery and videos last night, and now they're going to be offering an update today.

What do you think -- what more could come out that you would hope to learn or what questions do you have that you would hope to have answered in this next update, do you think?

CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION: Yes, well, generally, from the press conference yesterday and the one before that as well, I think they were clearly appealing to the public, which means they were dead ended in terms of knowing who had done this and where they were. They had held those details very close to the vest before the first press conference yesterday.

They almost had a lot of swagger about, you know, they were on to him. They weren't going to release any photos. They said they had some, and then that quickly changed. They had released a photo. It was detailed enough, in my opinion, plenty of detail for someone who knew this shooter from the photo to make an identification and call in.

By the later press conference, you could tell that still hadn't happened. As of 9 o'clock last night, they did not know who the shooter was, and they didn't know where he was.

And then, of course, the $100,000 reward is significant. That's generated 7,000 leads, which are very manually intensive, work intensive. They have to be triaged, and then every single lead has to be run out by a team.

So apparently sometime between 9 o'clock last night and this morning, something significant has happened. So I think they've either identified him, and they're putting some more information out about his identity, again, to get the public involved here and get some more tips and leads about where he is, or maybe they've captured him. I think those are the two alternatives here.

So we'll see what happens. But something significant has happened since that press conference.

BOLDUAN: It seemed --

ANNOUNCER: CNN breaking news.

BOLDUAN: And as Chris was just saying, it seems so because we do have breaking news. President Trump, in an interview with Fox News just now, and I believe the interview is still happening, said the following, I think with a high degree of certainty, we have him.

Let's get straight back to Nick Watt in Utah, on the ground. He was headed to go to this press conference. So, Nick, we now hear this from President Trump.

WATT: Right, so let's take that for what it is. We have not heard any more information here yet on the ground to confirm or add any more detail yet to what the president has just said. But listen, as I said earlier, as we were just hearing, yesterday, during the day, there were increments. There were increments. Last night, all of that new information was released. Those enhanced, we were told, photographs showing that suspect, showing that distinctive clothing, showing him running off the roof. So perhaps that has helped in some way.

Listen, the governor here in Utah did say they could not do their job without the public's help. There were huge appeals for the public's help. There was a $100,000 reward. We were told that they'd actually received about 7,000 tips from the public.

So this, during the day yesterday, as they released more information, as they released more images, that perhaps is what picked up this investigation and led to what the president is saying is a person in custody.

Now remember, of course, the FBI director, Kash Patel, came out very soon after the shooting to say that there was a suspect in custody. That had to be walked back. So we are still waiting for confirmation, for more detail, to fill out the details behind what the president has just announced -- guys.

BERMAN: All right, stand by for one moment, Nick. Let's play what the president just said moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In custody, everyone did a great job. We worked with the local police, the governor. Everybody did a great job.

You know, getting somebody that you start off with absolutely nothing. We started off with a clip that made him look like an ant that was almost useless. We just saw there was somebody up there.

And so much work has been done over the last two and a half days. You know, it's amazing actually when you start off with that and then all of a sudden you get lucky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, let me just tell you what he said because we didn't play the full thing. BOLDUAN: We had some audio issues there.

[08:10:00]

BERMAN: It said, I think with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody. The president also went in to say -- went on to say that someone very close to him -- the suspect -- turned him in. That is what the president said. The president also said, we'll get more information from the FBI.

We know there is a news conference scheduled about 45, 50 minutes from now. I am sure there will be more information that comes out even before that given what the president has been saying. Nick Watt is on the ground for us in Utah. And we have --

BOLDUAN: Chris Swecker.

BERMAN: Chris Swecker is with us as well. Chris, if you're there, the information that President Trump just gave us that someone very close to the suspect turned him in. Talk to us about that development right there. What that tells you.

SWECKER: Yes, I mean, well, it speaks of maybe the $100,000 reward that's out there. That's a pretty good incentive to turn in -- somebody in. As I said earlier, the photos were a good enough resolution that someone close to this shooter would be able to identify them off the photo.

And I was shocked yesterday that he wasn't identified more quickly because, I mean, just the pervasiveness of social media and the mainstream media. And you'd have to really be hidden away to not have seen his photo out there. So it took a little while, but it appears that he's probably in custody.

And it's not surprising or shocking that someone close to him actually turned him in.

BOLDUAN: I was going to ask that bit, Chris, that it is not surprising. It often -- it can often be that. That it's someone close to them sees it and decides, for whatever their motivation may be, when they see that person, then they make the call.

Is that what you say is traditionally kind of more what happens in these big cases like this?

SWECKER: Yes. Yes. And $100,000 actually is a large amount for an FBI reward. You don't want a reward so high that you invite all the crazies to call in and all the, you know, opportunists to call in. And you just have to be very careful and circumspect about the amount of the reward and even putting out a reward at all, because it does draw in a lot of leads that are extraneous. And those have to be gone -- you have to sift through all of that.

But I, you know, I -- they were very deliberately withholding all of that information as of early yesterday, because if you're on to somebody, you don't want to tip them off that you're on to them and you want to have the element of surprise as you go through the investigation and manhunt.

But they clearly hit a stumbling block after that 9 o'clock press conference. And within an hour or so, they had the photo out there. Again, it is surprising that it didn't happen sooner. But, you know, it could be that you know who, you know, the person is, but you don't know where they are. So that may have been the situation.

A lot of information will come out at 9 a.m. But, you know, Kash Patel misspoke on Wednesday, which was, I thought, not appropriate, very inappropriate. But I don't think Donald Trump would misspeak today. He sounded very certain about what he was talking about.

BERMAN: He's saying a lot more, I want to note here. He is saying that it was a minister involved with law enforcement who was involved in guiding law enforcement to the suspect. And also, ultimately, he said the father of the suspect got involved.

Obviously, we'll get much more from other officials as this develops. But that's what the president is indicating so far. We'll keep listening in there.

With us -- joining us now also is Ed Davis, former Boston police commissioner. These moments, assuming that this is the person, what happens in these first moments when a suspect in a crime of this nature is taken into custody?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Good morning. Well, you know, a crime of such seriousness and high profile requires a really explicit attention to civil rights and constitutional rights. You know, we're thrilled that somebody may be held accountable for this.

But what happens right now is critical. He is taken into custody. He has to be advised of his rights immediately under Miranda so that any statements he makes will not be challenged.

He'll be brought to a detention facility and booked, go through the normal process of name, address, things like that. They will fingerprint him and hopefully, depending on the state, take DNA samples. The federal government will be able to do that.

[08:15:00]

And clearly, every attention to detail is critical here right now for any officer or prosecutor that comes in contact with this individual.

BOLDUAN: Ed, please stick with us. Let's get over to Evan Perez. He's got some new reporting coming in about all of this breaking news.

Evan, what are you picking up?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, you know, we've been watching this overnight because we'd heard hours ago that that the law enforcement had taken into custody someone who they thought or had been reported to be to match the description of the shooter, that image that the FBI and that the Utah Department of Public Safety had put out last night that showed the image of the shooter. And so what happened in the overnight hours is that the FBI and the local authorities there went and picked him up and have spent the last several hours interviewing him and trying to understand, make sure that they have the right person.

Now, it's clear that President Trump is getting briefed by by the investigators and he believes that this is the right person.

We've just been told that that they you know, they had some some pretty good information that this person could be the shooter, that this person matched a description of that person of interest that was circulated yesterday by law enforcement authorities. And so the work then began over the -- in the overnight hours to try to verify and confirm that they, of course, going to look at everything from DNA evidence. Some of that is still actually being done right now.

They're waiting for to match him to some of the other things that they've gathered, some of the other evidence that they've they've gathered. But it appears, at least from what what President Trump is now saying, that they have certainly gotten more comfortable that they believe they have the right person.

Now, the caution here is that we've been here before. The FBI director wrongly tweeted that they had person arrested, the shooter arrested. He suggested that the shooter had been arrested only to retract that. And so we're all being cautious here.

Certainly, we were all we were all once we heard this, wanted to make quadruple sure before we even told anybody about it because of the very nature of this investigation. Obviously, it's a lot of pressure on these investigators to get the right person, but that work is still being done. The evidence is still being being analyzed and they're trying to make sure that they have the right person. And that work is still being done by those investigators in Utah -- John, Kate.

BERMAN: Evan, any information on what the president's also talking about, about the way that this person was found, that it was someone close to this suspect who may have turned him into authorities?

PEREZ: Right, that is -- that is also what we had been told by by some sources in the overnight hours. It appears that someone close to the suspect saw those images and believe that it matched the description of the relative and that that person also then talked to their relative. And apparently made -- the person made some statements that led them to believe that this was indeed the shooter.

And that person then contacted the the authorities there in Utah, the FBI and the state police and others went to go pick him up. Now, you know, I think the first place they took him was to the local police department there to to at least start the initiative interview where the FBI has been working out of. But by now, I'm sure that the FBI has has taken full custody of him and and is doing the work to try to confirm the evidence.

Again, what the president said -- and by the way, you're just you're telling me something, I just literally just walked in the door. I was not aware that the president had said that. It matches to information that I and Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand here, we were doing the reporting in the last few hours. That's exactly what we were told as well.

BOLDUAN: All right, Evan, stick with us. Bring us more of your reporting, your great reporting as always.

In the meantime, let's bring in Andrew McCabe is back with us. Andy, I want to play for everyone once again what we just heard from President Trump in this interview that just has happened, just happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Somebody that recognizes even a little tilt of the head, which nobody else would do. And somebody that was very close to him said, hmm, that's him.

[08:20:00]

And essentially went to the father, went to a U.S. Marshal -- who was fantastic. And the father convinced the son, this is it. And again, I'm always subject to be corrected, but I'm just giving you based on what I'm hearing.

They'll give you a much more active -- I just heard about it five minutes before I walked in. As I'm walking in they said, looking real good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Andy, your reaction is you've been watching this. We've had been leaning on you so much to help us walk through as this manhunt has been going on. What you think of what we are now learning?

ANDY MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, this is the benefit of that strategy that we often refer to as crowdsourcing the identification. It was clear halfway through the day yesterday that they were not confident that the covert side of the investigation, meaning the part of the investigation where you're developing facts and information and you're keeping that to yourself. And that gives you the room and the space to conduct an investigation quietly and covertly in a way that the subject isn't aware of how close you're getting.

The covert side of that investigation was not performing to the level they needed. And they were likely running out of really solid leads to pursue in that manner. And when that time comes, it's like the balanced tips in favor of just going public with what you have.

They were a little reticent at first. We got some pictures, but not all of them. We got some details, but clearly not all of them.

But by the end of the day yesterday, they were all in. And the videos and the press conference last night, I think, were highly effective. Things like the very minute details about the sneakers he was wearing, about the design on the hat that he was wearing. Those are the sorts of things that family members and friends and people who know you would recognize. So it's a matter of just drawing people to that information. The video is a great way to do that.

And it looks like from what we know from the president's comments and Evans reporting, that's exactly what happened here. Somebody saw some of those details and they said, you know, I know that person. And then likely went through this process with the family member, or I think the president referred to it as his father, you know, kind of setting up, confronting him, convincing the person to go talk to someone they knew in law enforcement.

So that's what you pray for as an investigator. When you're when you make that decision to take everything you have and make it public, put it all out there, you are really rolling the dice in a profound way. Because if it doesn't work, then you're kind of starting back from from scratch again. But it looks like it really paid out for for the for the home team.

BERMAN: And we just looked at those photos again, the most recent batch of photos that were released. And and I think it was Chris who brought up before, you know, these may seem nondescript to the average person, but this is enough detail in theory for a father --

BOLDUAN: Right.

BERMAN: -- to say, hey, wait a second. That looks like my boy. That looks like the shirt that I've seen my boy wore. That certainly looks like the shoes that I've seen him wear all the time. So that's the type of reaction that authorities certainly want to get when they make these photos public.

And Andy, let me ask you the question I just asked Commissioner Davis just a second ago. These have to be crucial minutes and hours that authorities have with this suspect in custody. What's important for them now in how they treat this suspect?

MCCABE: Well, it's crucially important. This is your one chance to get statements from this person. Anything from a full confession down to even the the remotest, smallest, seemingly innocuous statement could be of vital importance to the prosecution that will follow.

And so you have one shot when you take that person into custody and you're transporting them from wherever that took place into the police station where you're going to sit down. The first step in that process is to get biographical details. So it's not you don't go right -- you don't go barreling into an interrogation or an interview, as FBI agents call it. You you start by building rapport and you just ask basic questions.

Hey, we're just going to ask you some basic questions. Fill out this paperwork name, you know, date of birth. Where where do you live? Where do you work? That kind of stuff. Those are the questions that, quite honestly, you you can ask before you read someone their rights. They're not considered to be part of the the interrogation. And it is that process enables you to start building some trust with that person. And that's your really your only chance to convince them that talking to you and sharing information might actually help them get, you know, have an easier path through the prosecution. The person decides not to talk to law enforcement, which is entirely within their rights.

It's if they invoke their right to counsel that shuts everything down. There's no more substantive conversation around what they did or didn't do. But at that point, you're in a very kind of antagonistic trial, you know, footing. And you've lost at that point as the as the investigators, you've lost the opportunity to collect that crucial information and intelligence that could help the prosecution down the line.

So, we don't know yet how that's going for them. We don't know if he's cooperating and talking to the agents, or if he's invoked his right to counsel. I'm sure we'll find that out sooner or later. But these are really very, very sensitive hours. This is the moment that every investigator, every case agent, as we call them, prays for.

You want to be in the room with that subject you've been chasing, whether you've been chasing it for years and years or just in a case like this, just for a few days. To sit across the table and take your one shot at convincing that person to talk to you. It's just momentous. It's unbelievably stressful. So, it's just it's really a very important time.

BOLDUAN: Chris, let me bring you in on this, because just leaning on, you know, as the former FBI assistant director for the criminal investigative division, now that you have who you think now that you have your guy, right, you have your suspect, where does this investigation now shift? Where are you looking now? What are you doing now?

SWECKER: You know, first of all, you've got to resist the urge to put too much information out there to the public now that you have them, because you've got a trial to protect and you don't want your witnesses, any witnesses, you know, any doubt as to whether their memory is based on media reports or their actual observations. So you got to have a lot of discipline around that.

Now, now the process of trying to match up. Well, as Andy just reviewed, I mean, they're going to get a shot at interrogating him. He's got to be properly Mirandized and they have to do this. You know, they'll bring in someone who has some expertise in this area, demonstrated experience, and they'll you know, they'll see what they can get out of him.

But in the meantime, they'll -- they're going to go through the process of matching the forensic evidence up with him. Now you're building towards a prosecution and a trial. They'll get an arrest warrant. Eventually, there will be an indictment. We don't know whether it be federal or state at this point. Probably a state murder charge, just is a placeholder. But they've got -- there's a whole lot of investigation now that will

focus not on the manhunt part, but on the the building the prosecution part, matching all the evidence up to him and backtracking through all of that.

And then, you know, of course, they're going to be at his house executing a search warrant. They're going to be gathering evidence from whatever devices he has. They'll go through all of that. There's a lot of forensic activity around that.

So there's you know, this investigation is now narrowed down to something, you know, from a big, large try to identify this person and hunt them down to building the prosecution case.

BERMAN: Gentlemen, if you all would stand by just for one minute, we want to bring back Evan Perez into this discussion. Evan, I understand you've got some new reporting.

PEREZ: Yes, John, look, I mean, the president is sort of delivering some of this in his own way on that couch in over at Fox News in Manhattan.

And so here's what we understand happened is the father of this, the alleged suspect, the suspected shooter, he is the one that spoke to his son, believed that he matched the description of the photographs that have been made public by investigators.

Again, this is all still coming together. So, you know, please forgive that some of this may shift as as the the official version comes out. But our understanding is that the father talked to his son and persuaded him that it was time to turn himself in.

He was turned in. U.S. Marshals, if you remember, last probably yesterday afternoon, I think, the FBI and the local authorities there finally invited in the U.S. Marshals to join this investigation, to join this manhunt. And so it's through the U.S. Marshals there in Utah that this this person was picked up and turned over to those investigators. So all of this, of course, happening in the last, you know, 12 hours or so, certainly that this all came down.

And so this the interviews began or the at least trying to to talk to the suspect began in the overnight hours. We don't know what statements he's made. The father made some statements to the Marshals that led them to believe that the son had agreed to turn himself in.

Again, that would have to be verified by the investigators, by the interviewers, by the FBI. Certainly, the father is going to be an important witness as part of this, you know, depending on the cooperation of his son. But that is where we are at at this point.

Again, none of this has been officially announced. We don't have official confirmation yet that this is indeed the shooter. But certainly investigators believe that he matches the description and they certainly are looking closely that this is the person that they've been looking for now, two days.