A video has emerged that appears to show a bearded man who appeared to be celebrating and looking in the direction of the gunshot moments after Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
Footage shared widely online, and ripped from TV feeds, shows a young man wearing a black T-shirt and a backwards baseball cap pumping his fists and cheering in the immediate aftermath of the shot that killed the young conservative activist on a college campus in Utah on Wednesday afternoon.
He was filmed shouting “USA, USA, USA!” with both fists in the air – mirroring President Trump’s rally cry after he was nearly assassinated at a rally in Butler, Pa. last summer.
He appears to be looking backward in the direction of where the shot came from.
The unidentified man, with long hair and a beard, remained standing while other spectators threw themselves to the ground in the wake of the gunshot, which hit Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, in the neck as he spoke at an event at Utah Valley University.
“This guy happens to know where the shooter was and is looking back, cheering him on after the lifeless body of Charlie Kirk has fallen to the ground,” one user wrote on X sharing the clip.
“This guy cheered after Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I have no words left,” another X user wrote.
“How psychotic do you have to be to cheer as Charlie Kirk gushes blood and dies, while others scream and cower?” a third added.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Department said it has been contacted about the video.
An X user claimed that he was the bearded man captured in the viral footage, but insisted that he only did so to draw “attention so the security team could escape.”
Here’s the latest on the Charlie Kirk shooting in Utah
- The 31-year-old Turning Point USA creator was shot dead at Utah Valley University.
- The event was a stop on his American Comeback Tour.
- The conservative influencer had just answered a question about transgender shooters when he was shot.
- Kirk, a rising MAGA star, is survived by his wife and two young children.
- The shooter is still at large.
David added that he was at the debate as a supporter who stands for “everything Charlie represented.”
“There is [a lot] of rage directed at me but I promise you’ll understand when I speak and I eagerly await a return to silence. Some are upset because I smile, some because I [cheer] and others because they don’t have the information yet,” he wrote on X.
The account follows a handful of other conservative pundits, including psychologist Jordan Peterson.
The mystery man’s identity still hasn’t been confirmed.
The manhunt for Kirk’s assassin continued as politicians from both sides of the aisle condemned the killing.
The FBI and the Utah Public Safety Department have both said the shooting was a targeted attack, but no motive has been given for the killing.