Tanner Maxwell inadvertently recorded critical footage moments after Wednesday's fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, at a campus event at Utah Valley University, The New York Times reported.
According to the report, Maxwell was positioned behind a tent where Kirk was speaking and moved to get a better view of the crowd to make a video for his friends. Maxwell recounted hearing a single gunshot just as he began recording.
The video, which starts immediately after the shot, shows attendees either dropping to the ground or fleeing for cover.
"It was scary," Maxwell told the Times.
After the shooting, he rushed home and later reviewed his footage, noticing a figure running across the roof of a building identified by a university spokesperson as the source of the shot that killed Kirk.
A separate analysis by the Times of a second video revealed what appears to be a person lying on the same roof before the attack. While it remains unclear if this person was the assailant, the position offered a clear line of sight to Kirk's location.
Beau Mason, head of Utah's Department of Public Safety, confirmed in a press conference that the fatal shot was "a longer distance shot, from a roof."
Seven hours after the assassination, Utah authorities were still searching for the perpetrator.
Lt. Cameron Roden, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety, said that two people were detained and questioned, but no one remains in custody as the investigation continues.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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