Officials are facing questions for leaving open a Utah airport during a manhunt for a gunman who assassinated right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.
Authorities neglected to close off airspace around the Provo Airport, about a 10-minute drive from Utah Valley University in Orem, where the 31-year-old Kirk had been speaking at a political event at the time of his shooting, reported The Daily Beast.
"Speculation on social media has pointed to a private jet that left the airport shortly after the single shot that killed the conservative activist rang out," the publication reported. "Flight tracking data shows the jet left the airport shortly after 2pm and headed south towards the Arizona border before it disappeared from radars."
"It then reappeared on radars and returned to Provo roughly one hour after leaving the airport," the report added. "The jet in question has a registered owner in the Utah city of Lehi, according to FAA data seen by Daily Mail."
Retired FBI agent James Gagliano appeared Thursday morning on Fox News, where he speculated the assassin could have made their escape from the nearby airport.
"Was there preplanning?" he said. "Absolutely, you had to get access from the roof. This is the most chilling thing about this manhunt and got me most concerned in law enforcement. If you come off that roof, and I have seen the drone footage of this, there is open-air parking lot behind that building. It's spitting distance from I-15, a major artery and thoroughfare there. This is a big concern because this person within three to five minutes of that shot going off could have been in a vehicle, on his way out and miles and miles away."
FBI officials revealed after Gagliano's appearance on Fox News that investigators had recovered a “high-powered, bolt action rifle” in a nearby wooded area where they believe the shooter had fled before going into a neighborhood near the university, and they said surveillance video had captured images of the suspect on campus.
"[There were] 3,000 people at this event," Gagliano said. "Can you imagine the amount of cell phone video footage and security footage the FBI and state and local law enforcement officials have to grind through? This is going to be long and laborious [but] I believe they will have somebody in custody today."
