Police arrested two people in the wake of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk as he spoke at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University, but both have been released and are not believed to be the shooter, authorities said.

FBI Director Kash Patel initially said on X that "the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody." Less than two hours later he wrote that: "The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement."

At a news conference following Patel's initial announcement of an arrest, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that a "person of interest" was in custody and was being interviewed. Utah's Commissioner of Public Safety Beau Mason said at the same news conference that "the suspect is at large."

Cox vowed that authorities will capture the shooter.

"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 furthest extent of the law," he said. "And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah."

Patel wrote on X: "Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency."

Here's what else to know.

What happened to Charlie Kirk?

Kirk was addressing a crowd of thousands of people at an outdoor event at the campus in Oren, Utah, when video showed a bullet hitting him in the neck area.

Kirk was rushed to a hospital. President Donald Trump announced Kirk's death on social media.

Who was arrested after the shooting?

Authorities arrested a man shortly after a bullet hit Kirk, Mason said during the news conference. He said that man did not match the shooting suspect but was booked on a charge of obstruction of justice.

Later Cox said a person of interest was in custody and being interviewed, and clarified that the person was not the man booked on the obstruction charge.

Mason said that the only information about the suspected shooter is from security camera footage showing them dressed in all dark clothing, "but we don't have a much better description than that."

"We do have that, we're analyzing it, but it is security camera footage, so you can kind of guess what the quality of that is," he said.

He added that "the shot came from here on campus, from a location potentially from a roof ... a longer-distance shot from a roof."

What was the security like at the event?

Jeff Long, chief of the university's police department, said that about six officers were working the event and estimated attendance at over 3,000 people. He said some officers were in plain clothes among the crowd, and that Kirk was with his own security team.

He said his agency and Kirk's team worked together to set the security protocols.

"We train for these things. You think you have things covered and these things, unfortunately they happen," he said. "You try to get your bases covered and unfortunately today we didn't and because of that we had this tragic incident."

Robert Bohls, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City bureau, said that "special agents and personnel from the Salt Lake City Field Office responded immediately."

"We have full resources devoted to this investigation, including tactical, operational, investigative and intelligence," he said. "I know there are a lot of questions. This is very much an active case, and this investigation is in its early stages. We are following all the leads and the evidence."

Do authorities believe the shooter acted alone?

Cox said there was no information leading authorities to believe there was a second person involved.

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Have police arrested Charlie Kirk's shooter? The latest on whether a suspect is in custody

Reporting by Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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