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Kirk, 31, was speaking at an outdoor campus gathering shortly after noon when he was shot. The FBI later said the suspected gunman had positioned himself on the rooftop of a nearby building overlooking the event area. Kirk was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The attack transformed the university campus into a crime scene as students, event attendees and witnesses fled or sought shelter while law enforcement officers secured the area. Investigators quickly began collecting evidence and working to reconstruct the events leading up to the shooting.
Federal and local authorities launched an extensive search for the suspect. According to investigators, a high-powered bolt-action rifle believed to have been used in the shooting was recovered from a wooded area where the gunman was believed to have fled.