A veteran photographer who has spent 40 years documenting America’s biggest stories says he has never seen anything as ‘intense and jarring’ as the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination — and has retraced, step by step, the killer’s escape route.
Jeffrey Allred, 62, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist, followed the path taken by the assassin who gunned down conservative influencer Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Allred described in vivid detail how the shooter bolted from the scene, discarded his rifle, and slipped into a vacant house before vanishing into the suburbs.
His comments come as a suspect in the slaying has been identified as 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson, who reportedly confessed the crime to his family and was handed in to police custody.
Allred says he retraced the killer’s steps after he jumped off the Losee Center rooftop, where he pulled the trigger, and quickly made his way on foot away from the campus and the screaming crowd behind him.
‘The shooter headed northeast over Campus Drive, which is a two-lane road,’ Allred explained.
The assassin dumped the weapon used to cut short Kirk’s life under some trees on the far side of the street. The high-powered bolt-action rifle was later recovered by law enforcement.
Investigators say the ammunition inside carried engravings linked to online gaming and antifascist culture, deepening the mystery of the gunman’s motive.
After crossing the street, the killer immediately darted into a red-brick house that is currently being renovated, explained Allred.
‘It’s a home that isn’t being lived in at the moment,’ he added.
Allred continued: ‘He made his way around a chain link fence at the edge of the property and climbed up a 20-foot embankment where some new concrete stairs had been built.
‘There was a construction worker that I think he must have bumped into. I’m sure the house is wide open.
‘It’s quite a nice property in a well-to-do neighborhood.
‘The man then went into the home. We don’t know how long he was in there for, but at some point he left and disappeared.
‘The home must have been open because of the construction.
‘We don’t know if the shooter knew about the house beforehand and had planned to go there, or if he stumbled onto it while getting away.’
Allred said that as he photographed the property, a police officer approached him.
‘I was taking photos of the house and a local police lieutenant guarding the area approached me.
‘He confirmed the subject had been there and told me to leave.
‘There was no crime scene tape, but he seemed upset and wanted me to go, perhaps because they were still investigating the area.’
The veteran lensman said questions remain over how the gunman left the area after exiting the home.
‘There’s been speculation that the shooter left on a motorcycle left near the house or was in a car,’ he said.
For Allred, the events he retraced amounted to one of the most intense assignments of his long career.
‘I would say that it’s a very intense scene,’ he commented.
‘I’ve been around a lot of breaking news over the years, but this was really jarring because, you know, someone had been shot so violently like that and died.
‘People are horrified. Most people that I’ve talked to have seen the video of the actual shooting, and they cannot believe it.’
The longtime photographer said Orem and the surrounding area are usually extremely safe with a lot of gun owners.
‘Maybe this will lead to some gun legislation,’ he said.
Allred’s revelations came as the suspect was identified as Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident.
He was arrested around 11pm Thursday after confessing to his father, a sheriff’s department employee, who persuaded him to surrender.
Robinson, who lived in a $600,000 six-bedroom home in Washington, Utah, nearly 260 miles south of Orem, now faces the death penalty if convicted.
Kirk, 31, was struck by a single shot to the neck as he answered questions during a Turning Point USA event on the UVU campus. The father-of-two collapsed as terrified students fled in panic.
Trump denounced the killing as a ‘heinous assassination’ and confirmed the arrest of the suspect on Fox News.
Kirk leaves behind his wife Erika and their two young children — a daughter, aged three, and a son, just 16 months. The couple had celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary in May.
As investigators scour evidence, Allred’s eyewitness reconstruction of the escape route shines new light on how the assassin slipped away in the critical minutes after the fatal shot — and raises troubling questions about whether the hideout in the vacant house was planned in advance or discovered by chance.
For Allred, the memories remain raw. ‘I’ve been around a lot of breaking news over the years,’ he said, ‘but this was really jarring.’
For more on this story – follow Daily Mail podcast ‘The Assassination of Charlie Kirk,’ out now wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube.
