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The Situation Room

Manhunt Continues For Charlie Kirk Shooter. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired September 11, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now: breaking news, brand-new information from the FBI, as federal and state agencies are intensifying their manhunt for the shooter who killed Charlie Kirk.

This morning, we're learning the President Trump plans to posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And Vice President Vance is heading to Utah to pay his respects.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with the breaking news. Investigators believe they have recovered the weapon that was used in the killing of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus.

And CNN is now learning that a range of phrases related to cultural issues were found scrawled on a rifle and ammunition found in the woods near the murder scene.

BROWN: Officials also say they have video of the suspect who blended in with the college crowd as they ramp up their manhunt for the shooter. Watch what one witness told CNN about the moments leading up to that shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY KING, EYEWITNESS: I was scanning the area when I got there. And I just thought, this is weird. I mean, I had a ticket. Nobody checked my ticket. I walked right in. I walked all the way down to the front. It just -- and I just scanned, and I literally looked at him. And I'm like, where is all the security?

That's just that -- that was just my thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: There's been an outpouring of condemnation from politicians on both sides of the aisle following the killing of Kirk and a close ally and friend of President Trump.

President Trump just told reporters he plans to speak with Charlie Kirk's family later this afternoon, and Vice President Vance will travel to Salt Lake City to pay respects to Kirk's family later today as well.

BROWN: Our hearts and prayers are with his wife, Erika, those two kids.

Let's go now to CNN's Nick Watt in Orem, Utah.

Nick, what's the latest about this killing in the manhunt under way right now?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, as you guys just said, the weapon they believe was recovered in woods near the campus, the weapon described as a high-powered bolt action rifle. And investigators will, of course, be trying to trace any ownership, any paper trail behind that weapon.

They are looking, they tell us, for a male, a college-age male who would have been able to blend into the crowd on this campus; 3,000 people were here to listen and debate with Charlie Kirk. So the authorities also tell us they have a foot imprint and they have the mark left by a palm and a forearm.

And, crucially, they have a good image now of the suspect. Yesterday, they told us they did not have a good image. They had some muddy security camera footage, now a good image, and they're using technology to try and identify the person from that image.

If they fail with that technology, only them will they release that image through the media to the public. They are, of course, still, the FBI, appealing for tips. They have had 130 plus so far. They're looking for any video, any images that can help them in their search.

They have, as they put it, made some major breakthroughs. One of them is, they have got a timeline now of the suspect on campus. They believe he arrived on campus 11:52. That's about 28 minutes before the shooting. They believe he went up onto the roof, after the incident, came down off the roof and fled off the campus, we believe on foot.

The weapon was found in a wooded area. They say that he is not in that wooded area, for sure. They have swept that area. They do not believe he is there. They do not know how far he has gone. It is getting up to about 21 hours now since this happened. And, of course, with every hour, the trail can get a little bit colder.

But security camera, doorbell camera imagery from the neighborhood that he fled through could be crucial. They will obviously be trying to track this suspect through all of this video that they can gather to try and find out where he went.

As the FBI said, we want to find him and we want to find out why he did this. As for Charlie Kirk, his body remains here in Utah. We believe, we are told it will be taken home to Arizona later this afternoon.

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So, the trail, I wouldn't say it's getting cold, and certainly those breakthroughs overnight have really ramped up, have really pushed this investigation forward. Yesterday, it did not feel like they had a lot to go on, today, as they say, key breakthroughs, but the manhunt continues -- back to you.

BROWN: All right, Nick Watt on the scene in Orem, Utah, thank you.

BLITZER: And we're continuing our special coverage.

For more on the investigation into this killing and the manhunt for the shooter, I want to bring in former FBI Deputy Director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe.

Andrew, thanks very much for joining us.

Officials this morning, as you probably heard, said that they have good video of the suspect, but they aren't releasing it at this time. What would be the reason not to release images and ask for the public's help?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Wolf, I think it was clear from the press conference that the investigators are pretty confident in the images they have right now and they at the time of the press conference still have particular techniques and technology to use to try to identify the person captured in those images.

That technology is likely some of the kind of recently developed within the last few years software, A.I.-driven software, that can take an unidentified image of a person and compare it to millions, potentially hundreds of millions of photographs taken from social media and other places on the Internet and then conduct the analysis to give you kind of an array of possible identified photographs that may match your person.

So this technology does not come without controversy. It has been thought to -- there are folks who are concerned about biases that are built into these algorithms, it could lead to false identification, things of that nature, but it also has proven to be incredibly helpful in some other investigations.

I would expect that's the type of tools they're using now. If that doesn't work for them, I'm sure we're going to hear them -- we're going to see them release those images and ask for help.

BROWN: We also learned, Andy, that authorities recovered a screwdriver right near the rifle they found. Investigators say that's an indication that the shooter may have used it to disassemble and then reassemble the firearm before using it.

What does that tell you? Why would he need a screwdriver? MCCABE: Well, one of the questions that I have had since yesterday,

until we have recently found out that they recovered the rifle, is, how does this shooter get out of that location, just get off the roof, through the building and off campus carrying what had to have been a large shoulder-fired weapon?

Well, with the screwdriver, we maybe now have an answer to that question. You can disassemble many weapons with very rudimentary, simple tools like screwdrivers and things like that by simply removing a few bolts or pieces of hardware in key areas.

You can take the stock, which is the basic shape of the weapon from where it rests on your shoulder until out towards the fore end of the barrel and take those pieces off, maybe detach the barrel from the receiver, all kinds of things that you can do to turn that into basically a handful of parts that wouldn't be as immediately identifiable to people in the crowd who he passed during his escape.

So it makes sense that the shooter would have tried to disassemble that weapon either before he left or as he was leaving the roof.

BLITZER: Officials, as you know, Andrew, have said this morning at the news conference that there's no threat to public safety now, but how do you square that comment with the fact that there is an active manhunt under way, this shooter has a weapon, has a gun,he knows that if he's captured, he could spend the rest of his life in prison or be executed for that matter?

In my opinion, he still represents a threat to the public, at least, out there. What do you say?

MCCABE: Well, my opinion is consistent with yours, Wolf. I think there's no question that this person is desperate, desperately wants to get away, desperately does not want to be identified, desperately does not want to be taken into custody for his crime.

And desperation equates to danger, right? So if anyone in the public happens to come across this person, and he perceives them as being some sort of an impediment to his escape, that person could be in great danger.

I take the comments that they made about there not being an additional threat to the public to mean they think that this assassination was a single and isolated incident, that they're in effect saying they don't believe there are any -- there isn't a conspiracy of multiple assassinations. They don't have any information to indicate that that would be the case.

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And that makes sense to us on a logical level. But, again, we know so little about this person and where he is. It would probably be better to be a little more cautious and advise people to keep their eyes open and, of course, to call in any concerns or things that they see and people who seem suspicious to them. BROWN: I'm just curious what your thoughts are on how the FBI

director, Kash Patel, has handled this so far, Andy. We know he put on X that a subject who was responsible for the shooting is in custody, and then he had to amend that because as we know they released two people of interest because they -- law enforcement determined that they weren't suspects in this case.

What do you make of his handling of this?

MCCABE: Well Pam, like a lot of things about Director Patel's approach to the job, in this way, he's very different from his predecessors.

FBI directors, all of the FBI directors I have worked with and then, of course, in my own time as acting FBI director, the FBI directors are very sensitive about not stepping out in front of their local partners when we are responding essentially to assist them, not getting out, not putting themselves personally in the FBI's messaging, because, in the event that messaging ends up wrong, it's damaging to the credibility of the director.

It also can negatively impact our relationships with state and local authorities on the ground. And that is detrimental to the mission. So I think directors past have all kind of very carefully observed more kind of background position and allowed others, especially locals on the ground, to speak for the progress in the investigation.

I think what we saw yesterday with that kind of misfire with declaring victory in a sense before we had anyone in custody, that's the perfect example of why you probably shouldn't do that.

BROWN: Andrew McCabe, thank you so much.

BLITZER: And we're, of course, going to stay on top of this story.

We're also speaking with a radio host who knew Charlie Kirk personally about the way he transformed conservative media here in the United States.

Stay with us.

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BLITZER: There's more breaking news.

President Trump now says he plans to speak to Charlie Kirk's family later this afternoon. As he was leaving the September 11 memorial ceremony over at the Pentagon, he spoke with reporters about the conservative activist who was shot and killed yesterday.

Want to go live to see it on White House reporter Alayna Treene right now.

What more did the president have to say, Alayna? ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, right. Wolf.

Well, we did hear him say that he is planning on awarding posthumously Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And this is, as you mentioned, Wolf, while he was speaking at the Pentagon this morning as part of a 9/11 ceremony. He actually opened his remarks for that ceremony, that memorial with trying to honor Charlie Kirk.

And then later he also talked to reporters. He said he's planning on speaking with Kirk's family later today by phone. And also he was asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins, essentially, if he has any more information about the FBI investigation into the manhunt for Kirk's assassin.

And essentially what the president told reporters and told Kaitlan was that what he knows and what he's been briefed on from the FBI is pretty much what is being reported out there. And he said, "We hope we get him," referring to Kirk's killer.

But, look, I think, in my conversations with people here at the White House, a lot of people are very much, of course, upset, kind of in disbelief is a lot of what I'm hearing in my conversations with people here. And part of that is because this isn't just political, although I would say a lot of people are growing more and more angry about what happened.

But it's also personal. A lot of people in the White House had very close relationships with him. He's someone that worked with them on the campaign. He kind of had an open door to walk in to the White House when he wanted, a direct line to President Trump. We saw a lengthy 1,000-word post from the vice president, J.D. Vance, detailing the deep relationship he has with Kirk.

I would remind you as well we actually reported today that Vance actually canceled his scheduled appearance in New York City today for 9/11 and is instead flying now to Salt Lake City with his wife, the second lady, Usha Vance, to be there to really support Kirk's family while they go through with the remains and moving them to Arizona, all to say a big moment here.

We're waiting to hear more from this White House on what could be next steps. We kind of heard the president hint at those yesterday in a video message, but a lot of people here are just still very much upset, still trying to get more answers and really hoping that the FBI can find the killer soon.

BLITZER: All right, Alayna Treene over at the White House for us.

Alayna, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, President Trump has credited both Charlie Kirk and his organization, Turning Point USA, with helping him secure his reelection bid in 2024.

And joining us now is conservative radio host Jason Rantz.

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Jason, I know this has been really tough on you. You knew Charlie Kirk. How are you holding up today?

JASON RANTZ, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: Oh, still angry and sad and thinking about what happened, and reliving the image that I saw on X about what happened.

So it's obviously not a great space for any of us who knew Charlie and, frankly, anyone who was a fan of Charlie's. To see what happened is obviously traumatic.

BROWN: Yes, that video, that was really in your face, if you just went on X. I think a lot of us are trying to overcome what we saw there.

And he -- Charlie Kirk had such a large impact. Obviously, this is hitting you hard from a very personal level. But he was so influential. President Trump himself said, no one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.

Jason, how would you describe his influence on the modern young conservative movement?

RANTZ: There are young conservatives now because of Charlie Kirk, period.

For the longest time, the conservative movement was defined by liberals on college campuses or in high schools. And then Charlie Kirk came around and he spoke that language. He knew how to communicate specifically to younger Americans with the intent of at least exposing them to conservative viewpoints and principles and values in ways that they could at least say to themselves, hey, maybe the way I'm taught to think is not the only way.

And that's why he was able to bring this to so many people. And the thing about Charlie and why he was so effective is that even people who've never even met him felt like they knew him because of the way he was able to brilliantly communicate with them and catch their attention and speak their language.

I was talking yesterday with Senator Mike Lee of Utah about the first time he had a conversation about how Mike, who's a constitutional conservative who can speak some -- what -- a little bit above folks' heads, and simply said, well, how do I get a message out about federalism? And all Charlie said to him was, big government sucks.

And then you take it from there. And that's the kind of approach that he would bring. You get them in with an interesting highlight of your big picture view. And then you explain. And I think he was just so effective at that.

BROWN: And what does it say that he was killed when he was on a college campus inviting dialogue, inviting questions from people who may disagree with him? RANTZ: It says right now, and we have for a while, we are suffering

from a cultural rot, a cultural disease that delivers a death sentence to someone who wants to debate issues. Whether or not they're controversial does not matter.

The fact of the matter is, especially on a college campus, you're supposed to go there to be exposed to different viewpoints, even viewpoints that will make you deeply uncomfortable. And he paid the price simply for wanting to engage in discussion. And that someone could have easily just picked up that microphone and spoken to him, instead decided to pick up a rifle, tells you the rot that we're currently experiencing.

BROWN: Do you know if he ever had concerns about his safety, given the environment we're in right now with political violence? And what about your own safety? Do you worry about it?

RANTZ: So, I mean, he's spoken about the threats that he's -- that he's received. I think anyone in media, frankly, liberal or conservative, have exactly the same experiences, where you will get crazy e-mails or phone calls or maybe even interact with people on the street.

And whenever someone says your name, there's always this little anxiety that goes through you of like, how is this going to end? And every single time, except recently, it's been a positive, right? And that's the issue, is that every single time someone says something to me, it goes well until it doesn't.

There was a vigil last night in Seattle that I took part of, and I got up on that stage. And I'm not going to lie. There was a part of me that was a little bit nervous, because, like Charlie, he did not expect to be killed. He did not expect to be attacked. And when we get more information on specifics here, we can get into it.

But, I mean, the notion of -- and people have spoken about this as a political assassination. We are going to have that discussion. But the whole point is to stop people from getting on that stage. And this assassin thought that he was going to silence Charlie Kirk. But the only thing that that assassin did was make him louder, because people are going to pick up the mantle.

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People are going to continue to speak up, and we're not going to cower because some people don't like to hear what we have to say.

BROWN: Where as a country do you think we go from here? I mean, we're also -- it just seems like this country is more divided than ever, right? Everyone's in their own little breakout groups, in their echo chambers.

You have social media and the algorithms that are just promoting your own viewpoint and dehumanizing those who don't share your viewpoint. Where do you think we go from here? Do you have any hope? RANTZ: So I was asked that question yesterday about hope. And my honest answer was, no, I don't necessarily have any hope. And some of that is informed by the fact that I just saw someone I know get murdered.

Last night, when I was in front of hundreds of people who showed up in Seattle, a place that's not necessarily conservative-friendly, to celebrate Charlie's life, I felt a little bit of hope. But the reality is -- and this is the sickness of our culture and social media -- I'm seeing a whole lot of people celebrating what happened.

I'm seeing teachers celebrate what happened. I'm seeing journalists celebrate what happened.

BROWN: Well, that's gross. No one should be celebrating this. Let me just be clear on...

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RANTZ: It is gross.

BROWN: And that does not obviously show what the majority of people are feeling and thinking right now. That is unacceptable.

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BROWN: Yes, go ahead.

RANTZ: It is unacceptable. That it happens in the first place is what obviously is going to sting every single time. And it seems unique in the last several years. We have seen what happened after the assassination attempts on Donald Trump.

I mean, there were also some ghoulish people. And I don't think that they reflect the vast majority, but they do reflect a very loud group of people who are contributing to the rot of this culture. And I don't know how you walk back from that. I don't know how you change people's views if that's how they took what happened.

BROWN: It's a fair point. Jason Rantz, it's really disturbing and troubling.

Thank you so much. I know, like I said, it's really hard for you. You knew Charlie Kirk. And we really appreciate you coming on to share your thoughts and sentiments.

RANTZ: Thank you. I appreciate that.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: And there's other breaking news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now, the Dow crossing 46,000 points for the first time, as investors get a new sign that rate cuts, interest rate cuts, could be coming soon.

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