Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called the fatal shooting Wednesday of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk a "political assassination" and reminded everyone that "Utah has the death penalty."
Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck during a forum with students at Utah Valley University. Video from the event showed Kirk bleeding heavily from an apparent gunshot wound.
"This is a dark day for our state. It's a tragic day for our nation," Cox, a Republican, said in a news conference that aired live on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 online streaming platform.
"And I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination," he said. "I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this: We will find you. We will try you, and we will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah."
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X a suspect tied to the assassination of Kirk was in custody, but later released.
"The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement," Patel wrote. "Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency."
Cox reflected on a spate of political violence, including the two assassination attempts last year on now-President Donald Trump, the shootings this year of two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers, one of them fatal, and the attempted assassination of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat.
"If anyone in the sound of my voice celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting. I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere," Cox said.
"I don't care what his politics are. I care that he was an American. We desperately need our country. We desperately need leaders in our country.
"But more than the leaders, we just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, Is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us? I pray that that's not the case.
"I pray that those who hated what Charlie Kirk stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family, and that all of us, all of us, will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.