The person of interest in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday was released after being interrogated by law enforcement, according to the FBI Director Kash Patel.
“The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement,” Patel said in a Wednesday evening post on the social platform X. “Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency.”
So far, law enforcement has taken two individuals into custody as part of the ongoing probe, and both have been released without charges. It is unclear if law enforcement has taken more people into custody or if the shooter is still at large.
The update from Patel came roughly an hour and a half after he announced that the person of interest related to the shooting at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, where Kirk was struck in the neck by a gunshot, was in custody.
During a press conference, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) also said a person of interest was in custody and called the act “a political assassination.”
Shortly after the shooting, law enforcement briefly detained one person of interest, but he was released from custody “after we identified that he did not match the shooting suspect and was not an accurate person of interest,” Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said during the same press conference.
“However, he has been booked into the county jail by Utah Valley University Police Department for obstruction of justice. We do still have an active investigation for the person of interest,” Mason said.
