A resident told Fox News Digital he believes the device captured the person of interest in a neighbor’s backyard. Police and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were observed at the home, where one agent used a ladder to remove the floodlight unit containing the security camera, Fox News reported Thursday.
Erwin Steele and his family own several homes along West Street in Orem, one of which backs up to Utah Valley University’s Campus Drive, separated only by a chain-link fence near an alley the gunman may have used to escape. Steele said he believes the suspect crossed through one of his family’s properties.
His brother owns the surveillance camera confiscated by authorities Thursday after it captured a lone figure running through neighborhood backyards following the shooting. The block sits close to a wooded area where investigators earlier recovered a rifle linked to the attack.
Steele told Fox he believes the suspect ran down the alley, discarded the weapon, slipped past the end of the fence, and cut through his family’s properties.
Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, was killed Wednesday afternoon by a sniper’s bullet while speaking in the courtyard at Utah Valley University during an event hosted by the school’s chapter of Turning Point USA, the conservative organization he founded.
Investigators recovered a “high-powered, bolt-action rifle” along the path the suspect is believed to have taken while fleeing, FBI Salt Lake City Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls said. The bureau also released two images of a man dressed in black identified as a “person of interest.” Bohls noted that investigators collected additional forensic evidence, including a palm print, a footprint, and a forearm impression.
Separate video circulating online appears to show a dark-clad figure on a rooftop. Authorities believe the fatal shot came from roughly 200 yards away, likely from the roof of the Losee Center building, which faces the courtyard where Kirk was speaking under a tent.