#Russia says #Ukraine peace talks frozen as #NATO bolsters defences,
Russia said Friday that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump meanwhile warned that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week.

The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus.

Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there has been no significant progress towards ending the war launched by Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Russia’s army has gained territory and Putin has vowed to carry on fighting if his peace demands -- including Ukraine ceding yet more land -- are not met.

“Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through channels. But for now, it is probably more accurate to talk about a pause” in talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“You can’t wear rose-tinted glasses and expect that the negotiation process will yield immediate results,” he added.

Speaking at a conference in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the West should not trust Putin.

“Putin’s goal is to occupy all of Ukraine. And no matter what he tells anyone, it is clear that he has set the war machine in motion to such an extent that he simply cannot stop it unless he is forced to fundamentally change his personal goals,” Zelenskyy said.

Trump’s patience ‘running out’

The Ukrainian leader also called on allies to encourage China to use its leverage with Russia to stop Moscow’s offensive.

Trump has repeatedly threatened Russia with additional sanctions if it does not halt the assault, but has failed to follow through, frustrating Ukraine.

“It’s sort of running out and running out fast, but it does take two to tango,” Trump told Fox television when asked if his patience was being taxed by Russia’s refusal to end the conflict.

“It’s amazing. When Putin wants to do it, Zelenskyy didn’t. When Zelenskyy wanted to do it, Putin didn’t. Now Zelenskyy wants to and Putin is a question mark. We’re going to have to come down very, very strong,” he added.

Ukraine has ruled out making territorial concessions in exchange for a deal, and is calling for a Putin-Zelenskyy summit to break the deadlock.

Putin has effectively ruled that out, and has threatened to target any Western soldiers that might be sent to Ukraine as peacekeepers without his approval.

Russia’s invasion has killed tens of thousands of people in Ukraine, forced millions from their homes and devastated much of the country’s east and south.

Drone tensions

Tensions are high across Europe after Poland said Wednesday that 19 Russian drones had flown through its airspace, three of which were downed after Warsaw and NATO allies scrambled fighter jets.

Poland and about 40 of its allies denounced the intrusion on Friday, calling on Moscow to avoid further “provocations”.

“Russia’s reckless actions represent... a destabilizing escalation,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said before an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council requested by his country.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said the alliance would reinforce its eastern flank following the incident, with Denmark, France, Britain and Germany contributing “assets” in coming days.

Britain announced new sanctions against Russia targeting weapons, equipment suppliers and its “shadow fleet” of sanction-dodging ships.

The European Union meanwhile extended sanctions against more than 2,500 Russian officials and entities for six months.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was not a “mistake” that the drones flew over his country, rejecting Trump’s suggestion it could have been an accident.

Tusk warned this week that Poland was now closer to “open conflict” than at any point since World War II.

Russia has denied targeting Poland and said the country had failed to present any evidence the drones were Russian.

The military drills between Russia and neighbouring Belarus, which started on Friday, have further ratcheted up tensions.

The drills include exercises close to the border with Poland and Lithuania and in the Baltic and Barents seas.

Russia’s defence ministry posted a video showing heavy military equipment -- including armoured vehicles, helicopters and navy ships -- taking part in the drills.

Russia and Belarus have rejected accusations they pose a danger.

But Poland said it would station around 40,000 troops near the Belarus border for the duration of the drills.

#USA: Report says school shooting suspect was fascinated with mass shootings and expressed neo-Nazi views.


Since December, Desmond Holly, 16, had been active on an online forum where users watch videos of killings and violence, mixed in with content on white supremacism and antisemitism, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism said in a report.

Holly shot himself following Wednesday’s shooting at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County. He died of his injuries. It is still unclear how he selected his victims. The county was also the scene of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that killed 14 people.

Holly’s TikTok accounts contained white supremacist symbols, the ADL said, and the name of his most recent account included a reference to a popular white supremacist slogan. The account was unavailable Friday. TikTok said accounts associated with Holly had been banned.

Holly’s family could not be reached. The Associated Press left a message at a telephone number associated with the house that police searched after the shooting.

A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Mark Techmeyer, declined to comment on the ADL’s findings or discuss its investigation into the shooting. The office previously said that Holly was radicalized by an unspecified “extremist network” but released no details.

Two recent suspects in school shootings were active on the so-called “gore forum” that Holly used — Watch People Die, according to the ADL. Holly appears to have opened his account in the month in between shootings in Madison, Wisconsin and Nashville, Tennessee, the ADL said.

A few days before Wednesday’s shooting, Holly posted a TikTok video posing in a similar way to how the Wisconsin shooter posed before killing two people in December. He included a photo of the Wisconsin shooter in a post in which Holly wore black T-shirt with “WRATH” written on the front.

He also posted videos showing how he had made the shirt that was like one worn by a gunman in the Columbine shooting, the ADL said.

“There is a through-line between those attacks,” said Oren Segal, the ADL’s senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence. ”They’re telling us there is a through line because they are referencing each other."

Emails sent to Watch People Die seeking comment weren’t immediately returned.

Holly was also active on TikTok’s “True Crime Community,” where users have a fascination with mass murderers and serial killers, the ADL said.

Some TikTok posts shared by the ADL show one user encouraging Holly to be a “hero,” a term it says white supremacists use to refer to successfully ideologically motivated attackers.

The person also told Holly to get a patch with a Nazi-era symbol that was worn by the men who carried out the 2019 attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the 2022 attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

Holly posted a photo of two patches that he had but said the Velcro on the back had fallen off.

“I’m gonna use stronger glue when I fix it,” he said.

_____

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Colleen Slevin And Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

UN says rights deteriorated in North Korea in last decade, The human rights situation in North Korea has deteriorated, the UN warned on Friday in a report describing a decade of “suffering, repression, and increased fear”.

The UN first published a scathing report against North Korea in 2014 detailing a wide array of crimes against humanity, likened by the inquiry chairman to those of the Nazis, South African apartheid, and the Khmer Rouge.

Information gathered since then by the UN human rights commissioner’s office shows that the situation has not improved and “in many instances has degraded,” with increased government overreach.

“No other population is under such restrictions in today’s world,” concluded the report, which is based on hundreds of interviews.

North Korea, ruled with an iron fist for seven decades by the Kim dynasty, maintains very tight control over its population.

“If the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) continues on its current trajectory, the population will be subjected to more suffering, brutal repression and fear,” warned UN rights chief Volker Türk in a statement.

The report points to an increase in the use of the death penalty, major steps backward in freedom of expression and access to information, and the expansion of “mass surveillance” systems through technological advances.

The UN also reports a rise in forced labour. Last year, it indicated that, in some cases, this could amount to slavery –- a crime against humanity.

The 2014 report had already documented forced labour among other widespread human rights abuses in North Korea, including executions, rapes, torture, deliberate starvation, and the detention of between 80,000 and 120,000 people in prison camps.

“The fate of the hundreds of thousands of disappeared persons, including abducted foreign nationals, remains unknown,” the report adds.

Information about prison camps is limited, but UN rights monitoring and satellite imagery suggest there are at least four such camps.

UNITED NATIONS, September 13. The #Kiev regime has never strived for peace and all its actions aim to prolong the conflict, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.

"As soon as the real chance for peace emerged with the arrival of the White House leader ready to get to the crisis’ root causes and seek a stable solution, Zelensky immediately began to renounce all previously voiced peace initiatives. This merely confirms what we have been saying all along: the Kiev regime has never had any aspiration for peace and everything it is doing only aims to continue the conflict, stay in power and continue to exploit its Western handlers," the diplomat said at a session of the UN Security Council.

The Russian envoy noted that as Vladimir Zelensky’s popularity rating and the level of confidence in him are plummeting, "continued combat" becomes a "tool of political survival" for the Ukrainian authorities. Nebenzya reiterated that Zelensky rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to come to Moscow to discuss the Ukrainian settlement while he continues to visit European capitals demanding "arms supplies and increased military aid.".

NEW YORK, September 12. The suspect in the murder of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk is "with a high degree of certainty" in custody, President Donald Trump told Fox News.

The US leader added that he expects the killer to receive the death penalty.

TASS has compiled the key details known so far.
Alleged killer

- Kirk's killer is believed to be 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson, the New York Post reported, citing law enforcement sources.

- Trump said he did not know whether Robinson acted alone or as part of a criminal group.

- The US leader also voiced hope that the activist's killer would receive the death penalty.
Arrest

- The suspect was arrested on Thursday at around 11 p.m. local time (5 a.m. GMT on Friday), Fox News reported, citing a law enforcement source.

- Robinson was turned in to authorities by his own father, the New York Post reported.

- According to CNN, the detainee confessed to his father, who then contacted the authorities.

- The father informed law enforcement officials of his son's confession and kept him under control until the formal arrest, CNN reported.

- Trump, in turn, said the suspect was caught and taken into custody based on a lead from a pastor.

- He also noted that the suspect's father played a role in the arrest of the alleged perpetrator.

#UN assembly votes overwhelmingly to back two-state solution to Israel-Palestinian conflict.

UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to support a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and urge Israel to commit to a Palestinian state, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently opposes.

The 193-member world body approved a nonbinding resolution endorsing the “New York Declaration,” which sets out a phased plan to end the nearly 80-year conflict. The vote was 142-10 with 12 abstentions.

Hours before the vote, Netanyahu said “there will be no Palestinian state.” He spoke at the signing of an agreement to expand settlements that will divide the West Bank, which the Palestinians insist must be part of their state, saying, “This place belongs to us.”

The resolution was sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, who co-chaired a high-level conference on implementing a two-state solution in late July, where the declaration was approved.

The nearly two-year war in Gaza and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict are expected to be at the top of the agenda of world leaders at their annual gathering at the General Assembly starting on Sept. 22. The Palestinians say they hope at least 10 more countries will recognize the state of Palestine, adding to the more than 145 countries that already do.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, said the support for the resolution reflects “the yearning of almost everyone, the international community, to open the door for the option of peace.”

Without naming Israel, he said, “We invite a party that is still pushing the option of war and destruction, and attempts to eliminate the Palestinian people and steal their land, to listen to the sound of reason — to the sound of the logic of dealing with this issue peacefully, and for the overwhelming message that has resonated in this General Assembly today.”

But Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon dismissed the resolution as “theater,” saying the only beneficiary is Hamas.

“This one-sided declaration will not be remembered as a step toward peace, only as another hollow gesture that weakens this assembly’s credibility,” he said.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, reiterated its opposition to the New York Declaration and the General Assembly resolution endorsing implementation of the two-state solution.

The resolution “is yet another misguided and ill-timed publicity stunt that undermines serious diplomatic efforts to end the conflict,” U.S. Mission counselor Morgan Ortagas said. “Make no mistake, this resolution is a gift to Hamas.”

The eclaration condemns “the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians” in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a rare condemnation by Arab nations of Hamas. The Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mainly Israeli civilians, and took about 250 hostage. Of those, 48 are still being held, including about 20 who are believed to be alive.

It also condemns Israel’s attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its “siege and starvation, which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis.” Israel’s offensive against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The declaration envisions the Palestinian Authority governing and controlling all Palestinian territory, with a transitional administrative committee immediately established under its umbrella after a ceasefire in Gaza.

“In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority,” the declaration says.

It also supports deployment of “a temporary international stabilization mission” operating under UN auspices to protect Palestinian civilians, support the transfer of security to the Palestinian Authority and provide security guarantees for Palestine and Israel — “including monitoring of the ceasefire and of a future peace agreement.”

The declaration urges countries to recognize the state of Palestine, calling this “an essential and indispensable component of the achievement of the two-state solution.” Without naming Israel but clearly referring to it, the document says “illegal unilateral actions are posing an existential threat to the realization of the independent state of Palestine.”

Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press

#Trump’s push for peace prize won’t sway us, says Nobel committee,

U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize next month may have hit a hitch -- the stubborn independence of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which insisted to AFP that it cannot be swayed.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has made it clear he wants the prestigious accolade, which his Democratic rival Barack Obama won to the surprise of many shortly after taking office in 2009.

The 79-year-old billionaire has taken every opportunity to say he “deserves it”, claiming to have ended six wars, even though those in Gaza and Ukraine -- which he says he wants to resolve -- continue to rage.

“Of course, we do notice that there is a lot of media attention towards particular candidates,” the secretary of the committee, Kristian Berg Harpviken, told AFP in an interview in Oslo.

“But that really has no impact on the discussions that are going on in the committee.”

“The committee considers each individual nominee on his or her own merits,” he said.

This year’s laureate will be announced on October 10.

Trump has backed up his claim that he deserves the prize by pointing out that several foreign leaders, from Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev, have either nominated him or backed his nomination.

However, they would have to have been extremely quick, or prescient, for this year’s prize given that nominations had to be submitted by January 31, just 11 days after Trump took office.

Phone call

“To be nominated is not necessarily a great achievement. The great achievement is to become a laureate,” Berg Harpviken said.

“You know, the list of individuals who can nominate is quite long.”

Those eligible include members of parliament and cabinet ministers from every country in the world, former laureates and some university professors. Thousands or even tens of thousands of people are therefore able to put a name forward.

This year the committee will pick the winner from a longlist of 338 individuals and organizations. The list is kept secret for 50 years.

The most worthy candidates make it onto a shortlist, with each name then evaluated by an expert.

“When the committee discusses, it’s that knowledge base that frames the discussion. It’s not whatever media report has received the most attention in the last 24 hours,” said Berg Harpviken, who guides the committee but doesn’t vote.

“We are very aware that every year there are a number of campaigns, and we do our utmost to structure the process and the meetings in such a way that we are not unduly influenced by any campaign,” he said.

Trump raised the issue of the Peace Prize with Norway’s Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg -- the former NATO secretary general -- during a phone call about tariffs at the end of July, according to financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

The finance ministry confirmed the call had taken place but not whether the two had discussed the Nobel.

Unlikely laureate?

While the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee are nominated by Norway’s parliament, the committee insists its decisions are taken independently of party politics and the sitting government.

A case in point is that it ignored the Norwegian government’s discreet warnings and awarded the 2010 prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, sparking a diplomatic deep freeze between Beijing and Oslo that lasted for years.

“The Nobel Committee acts entirely independently and cannot allow itself to take those considerations into account when it discusses individual candidates,” Berg Harpviken said.

Norway is a firm believer in the multilateralism that prize creator Alfred Nobel defended in his lifetime but which has been upended by Trump’s “America First” policy.

So experts there see little chance of the US president getting the nod.

“This type of pressure usually turns out to be counter-productive,” said Halvard Leira, research director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).

“If the committee were to give the prize to Trump now, it would obviously be accused of kowtowing” and flouting the independence it claims to uphold, he told AFP.

In August, three Nobel historians went further and listed a number of reasons why the president should not get the honour, including his admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who has been waging war on Ukraine for the last three years.

“The members of the Nobel Committee would have to have lost their minds,” they wrote in an op-ed article.

#China says newest aircraft carrier sailed through Taiwan Strait.


China said on Friday that its third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, recently sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait to carry out “scientific research trials and training missions” in the South China Sea.

Beijing has ploughed billions of dollars into modernizing its military in recent years, a trend that has unnerved some governments in East Asia despite China insisting its aims are peaceful.

China has two carriers in operation -- the Liaoning and Shandong -- with the Fujian currently undergoing sea trials.

China’s navy said on Friday that undertaking cross-regional trials “is a normal part of the aircraft carrier’s construction process”.

It is “not directed at any specific target”, a spokesman for the Chinese navy, Leng Guowei, said in a statement.

However, its transit through the sensitive Taiwan Strait was intended to signal “China’s rise as a strong military power, and beyond that, a maritime great power”, said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“It’s to flex China’s newfound military strength and send a veritable signal to potential adversaries,” he said.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said Friday it had used “joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance means to fully grasp the situation and responded accordingly”.

Japan’s defence ministry said that on Thursday afternoon it had identified three Chinese naval ships advancing southwest in waters approximately 200 kilometres (124 miles) northwest of one of the disputed Senkaku Islands, known in Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands.

“Among these, the Fujian aircraft carrier was confirmed by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for the first time,” it said in a statement.

Japan said in July that China’s intensifying military activities could “seriously impact” its security, citing the first confirmed incursion by a Chinese military aircraft into its airspace last August in an annual threat assessment.

China said that a coastguard fleet had “patrolled within the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands” on Friday.

Last year, Chinese vessels sailed near the Japanese-administered islands a record 355 times, according to Tokyo.
Expanding its reach

Compared to the other seas, the South China Sea “presents a more challenging environment with harsher conditions, making the trials more rigorous” for the Fujian, said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military commentator.

After undergoing sea trials and completing further adaptive training, the Fujian will likely be commissioned into active service, Song told AFP.

The Soviet-built Liaoning is China’s oldest aircraft carrier, commissioned in 2012, while the Shandong entered service in 2019.

Analysts at Washington-based think tank CSIS have said the Fujian is expected to feature more advanced take-off systems, allowing the Chinese air force to deploy jets carrying larger payloads and more fuel.

China has stepped up a massive expansion of its naval forces in recent years as it seeks to grow its reach in the Pacific and challenge a U.S.-led alliance.

The U.S. Department of Defense said in a December report that China numerically has the largest navy in the world, with a battle force of more than 370 ships and submarines.

Beijing said in June that its Liaoning and Shandong carrier formations conducted combat drills in the western Pacific Ocean, unsettling regional neighbours including Japan.

A Taiwanese security official also said that month Beijing had deployed its two aircraft carrier groups around the island in May.

The Chinese Communist Party has refused to rule out using force to seize control of Taiwan, a democratic, self-ruled island that China insists is part of its territory.

Prince Harry makes surprise visit to #Ukraine in support of wounded troops.

This is the second time Harry has visited Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion in 2022. He made a trip to the western city of Lviv in April.

“We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process,” Harry told the Guardian newspaper while on an overnight train to Kyiv.

Harry, a British Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, is the founder of the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style event designed to inspire military veterans around the world as they work to overcome battlefield injuries. Ukraine is bidding to host the games in 2029.

The Archewell foundation set up by Harry and his wife Meghan announced this week that it had donated US$500,000 to projects supporting injured children from Gaza and Ukraine. The money will be used to help the World Health Organization with medical evacuations and to fund work developing prosthetics for seriously injured young people.

The Guardian said that Harry will visit the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, spend time with 200 veterans and meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

His visit coincided with a trip to Ukraine by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who announced a new set of U.K. sanctions targeting Russia’s oil revenues and military supplies.

Cooper said the visit is a show of solidarity with Ukrainians facing intensified assault from Russia – including 6,500 drones and missiles in July, 10 times the level of a year ago.

Harry’s appearance in Ukraine follows a four-day trip to the U.K., where he met his father, King Charles III, for the first time in 19 months. The meeting was seen as a first step in repairing frigid relations between Harry and other members of the royal family, which deteriorated after he and his wife, the former Meghan Markle, gave up royal duties and moved to California in 2020.

Harry and his father last met in February 2024, when the prince flew to London after receiving news that Charles had been diagnosed with cancer. Harry spent about 45 minutes with Charles before the king flew to his Sandringham country estate to recuperate from his treatment.

Prince Harry’s last trip to Ukraine included a visit to the Superhumans Center, an orthopedic clinic in Lviv that treats wounded military personnel and civilians. The center provides prosthetic limbs, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge.

Harry’s visit Friday come as Russia escalates its war against Ukraine.

It is less than a week after Russia’s largest aerial attack on Ukraine since its all-out invasion began more than three years ago — an attack in which the main Ukrainian government building was hit. It also comes just days after numerous Russian drones entered the airspace of #NATO member Poland — the country Harry traveled through to reach Ukraine.

Danica Kirka, The Associated Press

Officials plead for help in finding person who assassinated Charlie Kirk on Utah college campus.

OREM, Utah — A palm print. A shoe impression. And a high-powered rifle found in a wooded area. Those are among the clues authorities laid out as they pleaded for the public’s help to find the person who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk before dropping from a Utah university campus roof and vanishing.

The search continued early Friday, nearly two days later.

U.S. federal investigators and state officials on Thursday released a series of photos and a video of the person they believe is responsible. Kirk was hit as he spoke to a crowd gathered in a courtyard at Utah Valley University in Orem.

More than 7,000 leads and tips have poured in, officials said. But authorities have yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing, the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States.

“We cannot do our job without the public’s help,” Gov. Spencer Cox said during a Thursday evening news conference with FBI Director Kash Patel, who did not speak.

The direct appeals for public support, including new and enhanced photos of a person in a hat, sunglasses, a long-sleeve black shirt and a backpack, appeared to signal law enforcement’s continued struggles. Two people who were taken into custody shortly after the shooting were determined not to be connected.

Other clues included a Mauser .30-caliber, bolt-action rifle found in a towel in the woods. A spent cartridge was recovered from the chamber, and three other rounds were loaded in the magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to The Associated Press. The weapon and ammunition were being analyzed by law enforcement at a federal lab.

Officials are offering a US$100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Cox said he’s prepared to seek the death penalty.

Grisly video shared online

The attack, carried out in broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.

The videos show Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. Kirk reaches up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.

The shooter, who investigators believe blended into the campus crowd because of a “college-age” appearance, fired a single shot from the rooftop, according to authorities. Video released Thursday showed them then walking through the grass and across the street, before disappearing.

“I can tell you this was a targeted event,” said Robert Bohls, the top FBI agent in Salt Lake City.

Trump, who was joined by Democrats in condemning the violence, said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, visited with Kirk’s family Thursday afternoon in Salt Lake City. Vance posted a remembrance on X chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s Senate run and the 2024 election.

“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Kirk’s casket was flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Phoenix, where his nonprofit political youth organization, Turning Point USA, is based. Trump told reporters he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral. Details have not been announced.

Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

Kirk was a conservative provocateur who became a powerful political force among young Republicans and was a fixture on college campuses, where he invited sometimes-vehement debate on social issues.

One such provocative exchange played out immediately before the shooting as Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about gun violence.

The debate hosted by Turning Point at the Sorensen Center on campus was billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour.”

The event generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry and constructive dialogue.”

Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

Attendees barricaded themselves in classrooms

Some attendees who bolted after the gunshot rushed into two classrooms full of students. They used tables to barricade the door and to shield themselves in the corners. Someone grabbed an electric pencil sharpener and wrapped the cord tightly around the door handle, then tied the sharpener to a chair leg.

On campus Thursday, the canopy stamped with the slogan Kirk commonly used at his events — “PROVE ME WRONG” — stood, disheveled.

Kathleen Murphy, a longtime resident who lives near the campus, said she has been staying inside with her door locked.

“With the shooter not being caught yet, it was a worry,” Murphy said.

Meanwhile, the shooting continued to draw swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials joined Trump and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the attack, which unfolded during a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties.

___

Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Jesse Bedayn And Hannah Schoenbaum, The Associated Press

Tucker and Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington; Ty O’Neil in Orem, Utah; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Meg Kinnard in Chapin, South Carolina, contributed to this report.