‘This young man’s no pro’: Former FBI agent speaks on Charlie Kirk assassination investigation

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Former FBI agent Greg Rogers sat down with ABC4 to discuss the ongoing investigation into the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.

Rogers, who spent 30 years serving the FBI on the Violent Crimes Task Force, now teaches a class on serial killers and psych profiling as a professor at Utah Valley University, where the Kirk assassination took place.

“I was at home and, just very shocked and very concerned about safety on campus, what we knew about this shooter, and how quickly we’re going to be able to apprehend him,” Rogers said.

Rogers went on to say that he’s a dangerous human being that is obviously capable of hurting someone unarmed and innocent. He also said the FBI has been fortunate in what they’ve been able to find so far.

“We were able to find palm prints, forearm impression, he left his weapon in a wooded area right off campus,” Rogers said. “He wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, he could’ve easily worn a mask. Thankfully, he didn’t.”

He mentioned the fact that the suspect left his rifle behind is an “unbelievable mistake.”

“There’s DNA on it. That’s a mistake. I have a hard time imagining he did that on purpose. This young man’s no pro,” Rogers said. “We were able to actually see him leaving which neighborhood, where he went.”

Rogers said he can assure the public that law enforcement made every effort to identify him before going public, as there’s a security advantage to pursuing the suspect without him being aware of the pursuit.

At this point in the investigation, Rogers said cell phone videos, security, drones, anything you can think of to identify him, is, of course, extremely helpful. More importantly, he said tips that may not seem so important can have a much bigger impact than people realize.

“Sometimes people call with a tip they think doesn’t mean much that can sometimes break the case,” Rogers told ABC4.

He said he worked a number of major cases in his time with the FBI where tips made a huge difference. Right now, he’s still on the loose and anything helps.

As far as his capabilities, and the shooting itself, Rogers said the suspect is likely not a professional, despite Kirk being tragically killed.

“This guy is not a professional sniper, by any stretch of the imagination,” Rogers said. “A professional sniper at 200 yards shoots dots the size of quarters.”

As for security, Rogers said some mistakes were surely made, though there will absolutely be some follow-up investigation on the matter.

“We made some mistakes in security. I can’t understand why we didn’t have drones up,” Rogers said. “There will be a lot of post operative evaluation about this.”

For the latest information the investigation into the Charlie Kirk assassination, visit ABC4’s Live Blog here.