Content warning: This article contains descriptions of deadly violence. Reader discretion is advised.
In the wake of the assassination of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, former FBI agents describe an era of deadly political violence that has developed in the United States, appearing in a form that is extremely difficult for law enforcement to prevent.
“Instead of disagreeing and talking about (politics), now we’re acting that out,” said Katherine Schweit, a former special agent and an expert in mass shootings, in an interview with CTV News on Wednesday.
“We’ve had several acts of political violence in the United States, and I think it’s going to continue until we choose to lower the temperature.”
Kirk was shot Wednesday afternoon during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University. U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed later in the day that Kirk had died.
As of Thursday morning, his killer remains unidentified and at large.
‘A certain kill-shot’
Officials say Kirk’s assassin struck from a great distance, possibly on a rooftop. Kirk was hit mid-sentence by a single shot as he debated American gun violence with a member of the crowd.
To Schweit, the accuracy of the shooting suggests some measure of preparation by the assassin.
“Using a sniper rifle, or something similar, but probably ‘benched,’ meaning it was set down some place so that it could be a certain kill-shot,” she told CTV News. “Clearly, an intent to kill this individual in the way that a sniper would.”
Schweit says the killer would likely have needed to find a secluded location where they could remain undetected as they waited for a moment when Kirk was “sitting still enough” to allow them to take the shot.
“A single round to the neck,” she said.
Former FBI agent Michael Harrigan, an expert in threat assessment, notes that long-distance shootings like this are some of the most difficult to safeguard against.
“To plan and to interdict somebody from a distance is extremely difficult,” he said.
“So many things can go wrong, and there’s so many people speaking on campuses, so many people in the public square, talking, that there really is no effective way to expand that protective envelope out to an area that’s really made to mitigate all threats. It’s virtually impossible.”
Harrigan says that for Kirk’s security detail in particular, the focus appears to have been protecting against confrontations up close.
“He generally has plainclothes officers, whether they’re on-duty or hired otherwise, near him. And the intent of having them close would be to interdict people that would try to assault him,” he said.
“Mr. Kirk’s style was to engage directly.”
Growing climate of violence
Schweit and Harrigan both note that Wednesday’s shooting was not the first recent act of violence toward a U.S. political figure.
In July 2024, Republican then-presidential candidate Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., before law enforcement shot the would-be assassin dead. Mere weeks later, authorities arrested another man accused of plotting an attempt on Trump’s life, this time at the U.S. president’s West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course.
Earlier this summer, a pair of shootings left Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband dead, and state senator John Hoffman and his wife seriously injured. Both Hortman and Hoffman were Democrats.
Zooming out further, the past half-decade has seen an averted plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the violent assault of former U.S. house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their California home and a deadly riot at the United States Capitol following the 2020 presidential election
When it comes to motive, Harrigan says that for investigators, the philosophies of a victim or suspect don’t come before the facts of the killing itself.
“They’re going to go where the evidence is, on this,” he said. “They’re looking, here, just to get this individual in custody, get them identified and build a good case against them, here.”
Schweit warns that with any killing of a public figure, possible motives are varied, from violent opposition to the target’s politics, to the simple desire to “be famous” by attacking a prominent individual.
Assuming Kirk was the intended target, though, she says the death marks another episode in an already spiralling political climate.
“I heard somebody today say ‘Wow, this was a shooting at a Republican, now there’s going to be a shooting at a Democrat.’ I don’t necessarily think that’s true,” Schweit said.
“We are seeing political attacks against, and attempts against, politicians and their supporters … on both sides of the aisle. I don’t think it’s necessarily a tit-for-tat, I think it is just a continuation of the violence that is escalating particularly against politicians in the United States.”
You can watch the full interviews with former FBI agents Katherine Schweit and Michael Harrigan in the video player at the top of this article.
With files from The Associated Press
