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OREM, United States: Investigators searching for the man who killed right-wing activist Charlie Kirk appealed for the public’s help Thursday, with no one in custody more than a day after a murder that has rocked America’s fractious politics.

Kirk, a 31-year-old superstar on the Republican right who harnessed surging youth support for President Donald Trump, was shot dead while addressing a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

Hundreds of agents from across 20 law enforcement agencies are combing for clues to the identity of the culprit, but at a Thursday evening media briefing, they appeared to have little to show.

“We cannot do our job without the public’s help,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters, adding they had received more than 7,000 leads.

“We need as many, as much help as we can possibly get. Any videos or photos that you might have... should be submitted to our digital media tip line.”

FBI Director Kash Patel, who on Wednesday tweeted that agents had someone in custody before having to walk that back, stood mutely as Cox spoke.

No one took any questions from the assembled press corps.

Pictures released Thursday showed a man detectives want to question.

He was wearing Converse shoes, a black baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and what appeared to be jeans, with a long-sleeved top emblazoned with a design that included an American flag.

Police say they believe the shooter fired a single bullet from a rooftop up to 200 yards (180 meters) away, hitting Kirk in the neck.

A video played at the press conference shows a figure running across a roof at the university, then jumping to the ground and making his way off campus towards some trees -- apparently the location where a high-powered bolt-action rifle was recovered.

‘Dark moment’

Reflecting the highly political nature of the killing, Kirk’s coffin was transported to his home city of Phoenix on JD Vance’s official plane.

Footage showed the vice president with his hands on the casket as it was carried to Air Force 2.

Kirk’s widow, Erika, held hands with Vance’s wife after the plane arrived in Arizona, the headquarters of the powerful Turning Point USA.

The right wing mediasphere remained in a state of heightened emotion Thursday, with Fox News contributors recounting the impact Kirk had on their lives.

Conspiracy theories ricocheted around the internet, while calls for a return to civility in political discourse vied with those demanding vengeance.

“THIS IS WAR” wrote the popular right-wing X account of @LibsofTikTOK.

Fox News host Jesse Watters on Wednesday said the killing showed his side of the political spectrum was under attack.

“Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us. And what are we going to do about it?” he asked his audience.

Trump, however, urged supporters to respond peacefully, telling reporters that Kirk had been “an advocate of nonviolence.”

“That’s the way I’d like to see people respond,” he said.

 ‘Martyr’ for the right

Students at the Utah Valley University on Thursday described their shock, and their broader fears as political divisions deepen across the country.

Dave Sanchez said witnessing the killing made him “sick to my stomach.”

“We watch him all the time and so it really does feel like one of your own family members, your own brother’s been killed,” said Sanchez, 26.

Kirk, whom supporters have hailed as a “martyr” for conservative ideals, had an outsized influence in US politics.

He co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 to drive conservative viewpoints among young people, with his natural showmanship making him a go-to spokesman on television networks.

The father-of-two used his enormous audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for anti-immigration policies, outspoken Christianity and gun ownership, and to spread carefully edited clips of his interactions during debates at his many college events.

Kirk’s killing is the latest chilling episode in a country no stranger to political violence, particularly in recent years.

Three months ago, a Minnesota man shot dead a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in their home. In July 2024, Trump survived an assassination attempt during his election campaign.

BEIING: China said on Friday that its third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, recently sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait to carry out “scientific research trials and training missions” in the South China Sea.

Beijing has ploughed billions of dollars into modernizing its military in recent years, a trend that has unnerved some governments in East Asia despite China insisting its aims are peaceful.

China has two carriers in operation – the Liaoning and Shandong – with the Fujian currently undergoing sea trials.

China’s navy said on Friday that undertaking cross-regional trials “is a normal part of the aircraft carrier’s construction process”.

It is “not directed at any specific target”, a spokesman for the Chinese navy, Leng Guowei, said in a statement.

However, its transit through the sensitive Taiwan Strait was intended to signal “China’s rise as a strong military power, and beyond that, a maritime great power”, said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“It’s to flex China’s newfound military strength and send a veritable signal to potential adversaries,” he said.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Friday it had used “joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance means to fully grasp the situation and responded accordingly”.

Japan’s defense ministry said that on Thursday afternoon it had identified three Chinese naval ships advancing southwest in waters approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) northwest of one of the disputed Senkaku Islands, known in Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands.

“Among these, the Fujian aircraft carrier was confirmed by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for the first time,” it said in a statement.

Japan said in July that China’s intensifying military activities could “seriously impact” its security, citing the first confirmed incursion by a Chinese military aircraft into its airspace last August in an annual threat assessment.

China said that a coastguard fleet had “patrolled within the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands” on Friday.

Last year, Chinese vessels sailed near the Japanese-administered islands a record 355 times, according to Tokyo.

Expanding its reach

Compared to the other seas, the South China Sea “presents a more challenging environment with harsher conditions, making the trials more rigorous” for the Fujian, said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military commentator.

After undergoing sea trials and completing further adaptive training, the Fujian will likely be commissioned into active service, Song said.

The Soviet-built Liaoning is China’s oldest aircraft carrier, commissioned in 2012, while the Shandong entered service in 2019.

Analysts at Washington-based think tank CSIS have said the Fujian is expected to feature more advanced take-off systems, allowing the Chinese air force to deploy jets carrying larger payloads and more fuel.

China has stepped up a massive expansion of its naval forces in recent years as it seeks to grow its reach in the Pacific and challenge a US-led alliance.

The US Department of Defense said in a December report that China numerically has the largest navy in the world, with a battle force of more than 370 ships and submarines.

Beijing said in June that its Liaoning and Shandong carrier formations conducted combat drills in the western Pacific Ocean, unsettling regional neighbors including Japan.

A Taiwanese security official also said that month Beijing had deployed its two aircraft carrier groups around the island in May.

The Chinese Communist Party has refused to rule out using force to seize control of Taiwan, a democratic, self-ruled island that China insists is part of its territory.