Updates On The Shooter

Before I get to my commentary I want to take a little time to see what we know about the person who took the shot reverberating around the world. Here is an update from Deseret News:

The Salt Lake City FBI released two images of a “suspect of interest in connection with the fatal shooting” of Charlie Kirk during his visit to Utah Valley University.

The FBI is offering payment for actionable knowledge on the suspect:

The FBI is offering up to $100,000 as a reward for “information leading to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

As one can see in the pictures it was a young man:

The man appears to be tall and thin with dark hair. On Wednesday at UVU, he was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt with an American flag on it, blue jeans, glasses and a baseball cap.

Now the manhunt is on:

The killer remains at large, but Gov. Spencer Cox vowed that federal and state law enforcement officials would capture the shooter, even as President Donald Trump and other world leaders condemned the attack and the angry divides plaguing the country.

They also say they have the weapon he shot:

In a morning press conference, public safety officials said they had images of the shooter and recovered what they believe to be the weapon used in the attack, but the suspect is still at large.

Also, as some videos from onlookers seemed to suggest, the shooter was on a roof, but they also state they had their eyes on him the whole time which makes one wonder why they didn’t surveil him when he was on the roof. They also said the man ran into the community:

Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said they tracked the shooter’s movements after he arrived on campus, after he shot Kirk from the roof, and then he jumped off the building and fled into a nearby neighborhood.

Calls for those in the neighborhood to provide door cam footage on the suspect if they have it. The Utah governor was resolute in arresting the killer and reminded everyone that the killer picked the wrong state for his crime:

Cox vowed that federal and state law enforcement officials would hunt down the killer.

“The investigation is ongoing but I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this, we will find you,” he said. “We will try you, and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.”

Now they just have to find him. We can certainly pray for that to happen sooner than later.

We’re In Shock

Whenever a public figure is slain right before our eyes it’s a jolt to our system. It doesn’t matter who really. Just the visceral shock we experience when it happens and we see it, it is unlike any other feeling I know. Such is the case when I saw a good, decent man doing what he loves to do assaulted violently, intentionally and knowing that no matter how people kept out holding hope, it was a hopeless situation. I get the natural instinct to look for the ray of sunshine in a dark and foreboding moment as we try to squeeze out even a drop of good news from the black cloud of death around us. And then the news that they are no longer with us comes out and we have to process what that means at the same time as all the other emotions hit us like a tsunami, emotions we tried so hard to suppress until they could no longer be held back. The rollercoaster of feelings takes the expected yet unwanted next turn and then the ride gets crazier. We want to get off, but in real life we need to finish it as it careens out of our control. And that’s really the difficult part. The no control. But in our day and age we can affect some things.

We’ve Been Here Before

We live in an amazing time where information is literally right at our fingertips. A text or a notification can pop up on our devices with a few words or a short sentence. I recall getting one of those texts in July of last year when someone told me Trump was shot. At first I thought it wasn’t real and then I knew the person wasn’t one to pull pranks or joke around like that. I quickly researched it and discovered it was indeed true. And then there was yesterday when I glanced at my cell phone and saw that Charlie Kirk was shot at an event in Utah. My first inclination was to stop and find out more. In the case of Trump videos were popping up fast and furious. With Kirk the same thing happened. What I wasn’t prepared for was the close up video of the shot and then the blood pouring out of Kirk’s neck. I immediately knew a few things. This was an assassination and not a random act. And I also knew that no one survives what happened to Kirk. It was a kill shot that was perfect in its execution and deadly in its outcome. My heart wished he would miraculously survive even as my mind knew better. This dance between hope and the facts played out for hours. Then the social post from President Trump confirmed his official death. I, like millions of others, felt the punch to our collective guts. This hit people across the political and ideological spectrum for the most part. The majority genuinely felt sorrow with others at least feigning it. At least for now.

The Macabre Celebrations

Trust me when I tell you there is a segment of people who immediately took to social media to smile, dance, a scream for joy at the news of Kirk’s shooting and then death. I forced myself to listen to some of them, but it made me both sad and angry. Sad because these people were reveling in their evil rather than admitting it and actually realizing how demonic they looked. Shame for dancing on the death of a loving father and devoted husband was lost on them even if ever felt a twinge of love and compassion and sorrow for the flame of a life being snuffed out. I wondered how these people got to this point where seeing people die excited them. And I was reminded of the Romans who cheered the same way as they entertained themselves by setting parents on fire to light the Colosseum where their children were being torn apart by hungry lions. Sick. Depraved. These were the words that came to mind. Heartless excuses for humanity. Worse yet are the hundreds and thousands of likes for the videos and comments. If these are a reflection of a generation or two then this is much bigger cancer eating away at our society than we’d like to admit. Fortunately Kirk was in the process of reaching these young people one campus at a time. And it was successful, which may be why a sniper put him in his crosshairs. We mourn the loss of a happy cultural warrior and devoted follower of Jesus. And we also mourn for the death of the soul of our country right now. But this isn’t the end of the fight, rather it’s just the beginning. Charlie showed us how to battle, now we need to pick up where he left off.