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How the Gunman Who Killed Charlie Kirk Got on Campus and Escaped

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How the Gunman Who Killed Charlie Kirk Got on Campus and Escaped

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The New York Times

Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, evaded detection for hours before climbing on a roof, where the police say he shot and killed Mr. Kirk during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The authorities arrested Mr. Robinson on Thursday night after a 33-hour manhunt.

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A New York Times review of videos, a 3-D analysis of the scene and an affidavit released on Friday shed new light on the gunman’s movements in the moments leading up to the shooting and immediately after.

Arrival on campus

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The New York Times

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Charlie Kirk’s event, which had been scheduled for noon on Wednesday, was free to attend, and there were no visible barriers to access of the Utah Valley University campus that day, according to a Times review of images.

Mr. Robinson arrived on campus in a gray Dodge Challenger at 8:29 a.m. local time, nearly four hours before the shooting, officials said. Security camera footage reviewed by investigators showed the gunman wearing a different set of clothing than what he was seen wearing at the time of the shooting.

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It’s unclear what Mr. Robinson did for several hours after arriving on campus. Investigators said they were able to track his movements starting at around 11:50 a.m., when he was captured on video crossing a grassy area into a parking lot next to campus. A video published on Thursday by TMZ showed a person wearing similar clothing to Mr. Robinson’s near where authorities said he was spotted.

Mr. Robinson then walked across the parking lot toward a pedestrian tunnel. Investigators said he paused at the top of the stairs at 11:53 a.m. to pull out his phone, before continuing into the tunnel.

Images released by the F.B.I. show him ascending the stairs of a parking garage adjoining the tunnel.

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F.B.I. (left); Bora Erden/The New York Times (right)

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Investigators noted that Mr. Robinson was walking with a distinctive gait, with the mobility of his right leg appearing to be restricted. They did not provide information on where Mr. Robinson went immediately after exiting the garage.

Nearing the site of shooting

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The New York Times

At 12:02 p.m., according to the authorities, Mr. Robinson was seen walking on the north side of the Losee Center — the building where they say he would later climb to shoot Mr. Kirk. According to the affidavit, he entered the building from the southeast side, then, 13 minutes later, walked up a set of stairs to a walkway abutting the Losee Center.

He climbed over a short wall and crouched behind it, investigators said. He was then seen on video running across the roof — his limp now gone.

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The rooftop shooting of Charlie Kirk

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Leanne Abraham and Bora Erden/The New York Times

By 12:22 p.m., the gunman was in a prone position on the roof of the Losee Center facing the courtyard, where Mr. Kirk was speaking in front of about 3,000 people.

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A 3-D analysis of the shooting site showed no apparent barriers that would have blocked the gunman’s line of sight to Mr. Kirk, who was seated under a tent about 430 feet away.

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View from the roof of Losee Center

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Junho Lee/The New York Times

Those who attended the event said that security seemed light for an open amphitheater event with a polarizing figure like Mr. Kirk. Only six campus police officers were present, according to Utah Valley University’s chief of police, who added that Mr. Kirk also had a private security team that traveled with him.

For events of this size and scope, security experts recommend a comprehensive plan, working with local and federal law enforcement agencies to put in place security protocols, which could include establishing a perimeter with safety checkpoints and securing problem areas like rooftops.

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Mr. Kirk often traveled with a five-person detail, with one guard stationed onstage and others arrayed in front and back, said Greg Shaffer, who had protected Mr. Kirk for seven years. The team worked with the campus police on evacuation and security plans.

A Times analysis of footage from the event showed several people with what appeared to be earpieces facing the crowd minutes before the shooting. These individuals were also seen rushing to Mr. Kirk as soon as he was shot and transporting him to a car.

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Image via UVU Review and Logan Topham

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It’s unclear how visible the shooter would have been to the security detail on the ground near the tent, according to Times 3-D analysis. The shooter may have been hidden behind a parapet while lying in a prone position on the roof and dressed in dark clothing.

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Junho Lee/The New York Times

At 12:23 p.m., the gunman fired a single shot at Mr. Kirk, killing him. As the crowd dispersed, those who appeared to be security personnel quickly surrounded him.

Video also showed two campus police officers rushing in from behind the tent.

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Image via UVU Review and Logan Topham

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A fast escape

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The New York Times

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Immediately after the shooting, the gunman made a quick escape.

Video released by officials on Thursday showed him running toward the opposite end of the Losee Center, where he jumped at least 15 feet onto the ground.

He then headed back toward Campus Drive, and according to the authorities, crossed the road into a nearby wooded area. The gun used in the shooting was later recovered here, along with bullet casings engraved with various messages.

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The manhunt ended more than 200 miles away, officials said, after a phone call from a family friend of Mr. Robinson, who is being held in the Utah County Jail.

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See TSA Wait Times at Major U.S. Airports

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See TSA Wait Times at Major U.S. Airports

Notes: Dots are sized by 2024 passenger count; times are for general security lines.

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Travelers are facing long waits at airport security checkpoints as the partial government shutdown continues to strain staffing for Transportation Security Administration workers. About 50,000 T.S.A. personnel have been working without pay for over a month, and hundreds have quit or called out of work.

On Monday, President Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to some U.S. airports, saying that they would help ease long security lines. By Monday afternoon, the lines at the Atlanta, LaGuardia and Newark airports had become so long that those airports removed wait time estimates from their websites. Atlanta’s airport advised passengers to allow for at least four hours for security screenings.

Here are the latest available wait times at select major airports across the country.

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See wait times at airports across the country

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Notes: All wait times shown are as reported by airports on their websites. Some major airports did not provide live wait times. In cases in which a wait time is reported by the airport as a range, the higher number is used. All times are Eastern.

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Suspect in slaying of Loyola University student was in the country illegally, officials say

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Suspect in slaying of Loyola University student was in the country illegally, officials say

A Chicago man arrested for allegedly gunning down a Loyola University student was in the country illegally and captured in part because of his “distinct” limp, officials said Monday.

Sheridan Gorman, 18, was killed shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday near Tobey Prinz Beach Park, less than a mile from campus, police said.

Jose Medina, 25, was arrested Friday night and booked on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and other gun-related charges in connection with the fatal shooting of Gorman, who was from the New York City suburb of Yorktown Heights.

Medina’s scheduled court appearance on Monday was delayed after the defendant was taken to the hospital, prosecutors said. The nature of Medina’s injury or illness was not immediately disclosed.

The suspect wore black clothes and a black mask when he allegedly shot Gorman in the back in the early morning hours of Thursday, according to a Chicago police arrest report released on Monday.

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Witnesses described and nearby security cameras showed the suspect “walking with a distinct limp and slow gait,” according to the report.

Cameras then caught Medina entering his apartment house on N. Sheridan Road, and a building engineer identified the suspect as a resident, the police report said.

Sheridan Gorman.Courtesy Gorman family

Medina had been previously “apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol and released into the country,” according to a Department of Homeland Security statement.

The suspect was released again on June 19, 2023, following a shoplifting arrest in Chicago, federal officials said.

Gorman was “failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians,” DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement.

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The report didn’t make clear what, if any, motive the suspect might have had for the attack.

“We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime,” a statement from Gorman’s family said.

“When systems fail — whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act — the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent,” the family said.

It wasn’t immediately clear on Monday if Medina had hired or been appointed a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Gorman’s slaying could take center stage in the nation’s ongoing debate on immigration in the same manner as Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s murder in 2024.

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The suspect in her slaying, Venezuelan citizen Jose Antonio Ibarra, illegally entered America in 2022 near El Paso, authorities have said.

The Trump administration frequently invokes Riley’s name in its justification of mass deportations and other anti-immigration actions.

Riley’s family has asked that their loved one’s name not be used in this public debate.

“I’d rather her not be such a political, how you say — it started a storm in our country,” father Jason Riley told NBC’s “TODAY” show a month after his daughter’s death, “and it’s incited a lot of people.”

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Video: Plane Collides With Vehicle at LaGuardia Airport

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Video: Plane Collides With Vehicle at LaGuardia Airport

new video loaded: Plane Collides With Vehicle at LaGuardia Airport

Emergency crews swarmed a damaged Air Canada Express plane with a sheared off nose at LaGuardia Airport.
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By Jiawei Wang

March 23, 2026

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