Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is making an impassioned plea for Americans and young people to use the horror of Charlie Kirk’s public assassination as an inflection point to turn the country away from political violence and division. Cox spoke Friday at a news conference announcing authorities had a suspect in the conservative activist's killing in custody. Cox says this is a moment to make a choice: escalate or "find an off-ramp.” The two-term Republican governor has throughout his political career issued pleas for bipartisan cooperation and at times drawn national attention for his empathetic remarks. Cox says the 22-year-old suspect in Kirk’s killing had become “more political” in the run-up to Wednesday’s shooting.

Federal and state investigators are appealing for the public's help in finding the person who assasinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The searched continued early Friday, nearly two days after Kirk was killed on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem. Authorities have released photos and video of the person who they believe is responsible traversing the campus. Other clues include a palm print, a shoe impression and a high-powered rifle found in a wooded area along the path the shooter fled. But they have yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing.

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Flowers are left in remembrance of those wounded in a shooting at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colo., Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Colleen Slevin)