Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during the Jefferson Educational Society's Global Summit XVII at Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.

Students are returning to class at Utah Valley University one week after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on campus, as new information trickles out about the murder suspect and FBI Director Kash Patel faced more questions about the case on Capitol Hill.

Kirk, a close ally of the Trump administration and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot on Wednesday, Sept. 10, while speaking to a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The campus was closed for several days before reopening to faculty, staff and students in phases this week.

“The tragic death of Charlie Kirk on our campus on September 10 has shaken our community. We have witnessed a tragic event, but in the coming days, I am confident that our core value of exceptional care will see us through as we begin to move forward,” said Astrid S. Tuminez, the president of Utah Valley University, in a statement.

The suspect in the attack, Tyler Robinson, was arraigned on Sept. 16 on seven felony charges, including aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Local prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty, a decision President Donald Trump has publicly supported.

New details in the case were revealed in charging documents, including that Robinson's DNA was found on the trigger of the rifle police say was used in the attack, and that Robinson appeared to confess to multiple people after the killing, including his parents and his live-in partner.

Meanwhile, Patel is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a second day of testimony on Capitol Hill. On Sept. 16, he defended himself and his agency from criticism from Democratic lawmakers who seized on conflicting statements released in the immediate aftermath of Kirk's death.

Patel boasts of fast resolution to manhunt for Kirk shooter

At his House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel repeatedly sought to take credit for releasing photos of the suspected shooter that led to the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.

As a result, Patel told House Judiciary Committee lawmakers, the joint FBI-local manhunt for the shooter took 33 hours.

By comparison, Patel said, “The Boston Marathon (manhunt) took five days and Luigi Mangione took five days,” in reference to the deadly 2013 marathon bombing and the slaying of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December.

– Josh Meyer

Patel says FBI is working with Discord in Kirk invesigation

Patel said the FBI is working with Discord, the gaming platform where Charlie Kirk’s shooting suspect allegedly communicated.

“Discord, the platform, ownership, has been working with our lawful process, and we are obtaining materials from them on a rolling basis,” Patel said.

A day earlier, Patel told members of Congress that the FBI was investigating scores of people in an online group chat with the alleged gunman.

Discord has confirmed the gunman had an account on the platform but said an internal investigation found "no evidence that the suspect planned this incident on Discord or promoted violence on Discord."

FBI director condemns political violence 'on both sides'

Under questioning from Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, FBI Director Kash Patel condemned political violence on both the left and the right.

"There is too much political violence based on ideologies from either side," Patel said.

Nadler then asked if Patel had seen a Cato Institute study finding more political violence on the right than the left, and Patel said he was not familiar.

The study, by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, found that terrorists motived by extreme slices of right-leaning ideology killed six times more people than those on the other side of the political spectrum between 1975 and Sept. 10, 2025. Since 1975, 391 murders were motivated by extreme ideology on the right, compared to 65 murders backed by extreme ideology on the left, according to the report.

The study titled “Politically Motivated Violence is Rare in the United States” was written by Alex Nowrasteh, the vice president for economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute.

– Aysha Bagchi, Christopher Cann and Erin Mansfield

How Charlie Kirk inspired and enraged millions

Over a decade and a half, Kirk became one of the nation’s most influential conservative activists, building a multimillion-dollar empire that he used to rally young voters across the country and help to re-elect President Donald Trump, whom he would count among his friends.

Kirk inspired millions of people and infuriated millions of others with his hard-line conservative views and often incendiary language on everything from abortion, race and gender to gay marriage and gun rights.

It was a career that would make him an influential ally to the White House but would end with gunfire on a college campus, the very place he first found success mobilizing a legion of young conservatives. Read more here.

Top committee members address Kirk shooting

At the start of the House Judiciary Committee hearing, Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, offered his condolences to Kirk’s friends and family.

“Charlie was a good man, a happy warrior who fought for principles and values I think make our country special,” he said, noting that Kirk was “a strong proponent of defending the First Amendment.”

Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat, chimed in, calling the shooting "brutal" and saying "there is never any warrant for political violence in America.”

When will Patel testify before the House?

The FBI director is set to field questions from House members beginning at 10 a.m. ET.

During Patel's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 17, he said a group chat with "a lot more" than 20 people was being investigated in connection with Kirk's killing.

The FBI director clashed with Democratic lawmakers, several of whom pressed him on his handling of the case. Democrats referred to a post on X in which Patel announced a "subject" was in custody hours after the shooting. Patel later said the person was released and a manhunt was ongoing.

Utah Valley University resumes classes after Kirk shooting

A week after Kirk was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University, the institution is set to resume classes on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

The university began a phased return of faculty and students this week, first reopening campus to employees before resuming student services on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

"This is a defining moment for us all. May we not let hatred overshadow the goodness of our UVU community and what we stand for," Utah Valley University President Astrid S. Tuminez said in a statement. "As we come together and open our hearts to kindness and compassion, we will build an even stronger and more caring campus."

Obama condemns Kirk killing, says tragedy being used to 'silence discussion'

Former President Barack Obama called the killing of Kirk and other recent acts of political violence "horrific" during a speech Tuesday, Sept. 16, while criticizing President Donald Trump for using the tragedy to stifle debate critical to democracy.

Obama, the two-term president who remains one of the most influential forces within the Democratic Party, said Americans should condemn political violence when it occurs but also be free to debate the ideas espoused by the victims of such violence.

Speaking to a crowd of 8,000 people at the Erie Insurance Arena, Obama drew sharp differences with Trump throughout the evening, without ever saying the president’s name.

"I've noticed that there's been some confusion around this lately coming from the White House and some of the other positions of authority that suggest we're going to identify an enemy, we're going to suggest that somehow that enemy was at fault, and we are then going to use that as a rationale for trying to silence discussion around who we are as a country and what direction we should go. And that’s a mistake," the former president said.

– Matthew Rink, USA TODAY NETWORK

What we know about Tyler Robinson

According to court records, Robinson had been planning the attack for a week and used a weapon he described as "grandpa's rifle." Robinson, court records said, later messaged his roommate, with whom he was in a romantic relationship, after the fatal shooting.

Those were among the details contained in a 10-page charging document released by Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray, who held a news conference after he charged Robinson, a former straight-A student from Utah, with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering for instructing his roommate not to cooperate in Kirk's death.

The charges include the allegation that Robinson targeted Kirk because of "Robinson’s belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk’s political expression."

Robinson’s mother told police that her son had begun to date his transgender roommate, court documents said. Read more here.

– Chris Kenning, Nick Penzenstadler, and Christopher Cann

Could Charlie Kirk murder suspect face the firing squad if convicted?

The decision of Utah officials to pursue the death penalty in their case against Robinson opens the door to another question: Since Utah allows execution by firing squad or lethal injection, which of the two would likely be used in the event of a conviction and death sentence?

While most executions in the U.S. are carried out by lethal injection, Robinson faces trial in Utah, which is only one of two death penalty states that have used the firing squad in modern U.S. history. Utah and South Carolina have executed just five inmates by firing squad since 1977, though two of those executions happened this year.

Before 2025, only Utah had carried out firing squad executions: in 1977, 1996, and 2010.

Utah was just days away from conducting a firing squad execution this month before the Utah Supreme Court intervened. The state was set to execute Ralph Menzies by firing squad on Sept. 5 for the 1986 murder of a married mother of three. Though Menzies chose the firing squad decades ago, the state's high court halted it over concerns about his current dementia and whether he still understands why he's being executed. Read more here.

– Amanda Lee Myers

Patel returns to Congress after clashing with Senate Dems over Kirk probe

FBI Director Kash Patel returns to Congress on Wednesday after facing tough questions from Senate Democrats over the agency’s handling of major investigations, such as the assassination of Kirk, and at times got into shouting matches with them.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Patel's tweet the night of Kirk’s killing that inaccurately announced a subject was in custody in relation to the investigation.

"Mr. Patel was so anxious to take credit for finding Mr. Kirk’s assassin that he violated one of the basics of effective law enforcement: At critical stages of an investigation, shut up and let the professionals do their job," Durbin said.

Patel later said under questioning from Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, that he did not regret the post or see it as a mistake, maintaining that he put that information out as part of his commitment to working with the public.

"If you put out a statement that says, 'We've got our man,' and in fact it turns out that you didn't have your man, that's not a mistake?" Welch later responded.

– Erin Mansfield and Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY

Contributing: Michael Collins, Trevor Hughes, Michael Loria and Lauren Villagran

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Classes resume a week after Charlie Kirk shooting. Patel faces more questions: Updates

Reporting by Thao Nguyen, Christopher Cann and Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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