Former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan says Charlie Kirk was victim of ‘well-orchestrated, professional hit’

OREM, UTAH: Former FBI special agent Stuart Kaplan told Fox News that the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has all the markings of a “professional hit.”

The 31-year-old conservative firebrand was gunned down while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, leaving behind his wife, Erika, and their two young kids. 

Attack on Charlie Kirk was 'well planned and orchestrated'

During an appearance on 'Jesse Watters Primetime,' Stuart Kaplan drew a sharp contrast between Kirk’s killing and last July’s botched attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“You know, Jesse, I think this assassination, different than the assassination attempt [against President Donald Trump] back in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a very well-planned, very well-orchestrated plot that was put in motion days before,” Kaplan said.

He added, “This individual had a plan of escape to elude detection of being up on a rooftop and also being able to evade and elude law enforcement after that shot was taken.” Kaplan compared Kirk's assassin to Trump’s would-be shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.

“When you take a look at what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, Crooks came onto the venue, he left the venue, he came back, he was questioned. I mean, it was really an amateur scenario. This assassination of Charlie Kirk, to me, is indicative of a professional hit, and I’m not so sure that we are going to quickly be able to apprehend this individual without some luck, hopefully," he explained.

Kirk was sparring with students over politics when the unthinkable happened. Roughly 20 minutes into a debate with a student, a single shot rang out, striking him and ending his life.

A Utah Valley University spokesperson told The Daily Caller the sniper’s bullet came from a building roughly 200 yards away. Thousands had packed in to see Kirk, who often toured campuses to challenge young progressives.

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed on X that someone had been captured and interrogated after the shooting, but that person was later released.  

Shooter was ‘no amateur,’ says Stuart Kaplan

Jesse Watters pressed Stuart Kaplan on what exactly he meant by a “professional hit,” asking if he believed anyone with “basic training” could have pulled it off. Kaplan didn’t think so.

“Well, when you take a look at the video and you take a look at the venue and the spectators and how close they are to Charlie Kirk, and then you have that kind of umbrella over him, that kind of tent, you have to know that this shooter had to be perched in a position with respect to being able to lay his sights perfectly, basically a headshot,” he explained.

“The shot that was taken was taken to immediately incapacitate Charlie Kirk. So this was not some amateur who just got up on a rooftop because it was what I consider spontaneous combustion. He got up this morning and decided he was going to do something crazy," he said. Instead, Kaplan argued that this had all the hallmarks of a skilled assassin.

“This seems the earmark of a professional that got up onto this rooftop well in advance of the venue being occupied by the spectators. He was clearly undetected. There was no indication that anybody saw him up on this rooftop. Obviously, after that one single shot was taken, he was able to basically very quietly and systematically elude any further detection and escape.”

What’s more troubling is that no one knows how the shooter got away.

“There’s been no indication that there’s a vehicle identified or any mode of how he actually escaped the venue,” Kaplan said. “So to me, this is someone who had some experience, some level of sophistication to have mapped out exactly how this was going to go down.”

Kirk’s death sent shockwaves through the conservative movement he helped shape. He leaves behind his wife, Erika Kirk, and their two young children.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.