WASHINGTON, D.C. – A massive FBI investigation is underway following the shooting of Charlie Kirk. As the investigation unfolds, questions are arising about how such high-profile investigations are conducted.
Rich Kolko, a security analyst and former FBI agent, discussed the initial stages of the investigation. He noted that communication issues surfaced early on.
“Things got a little confusing immediately after the event when we first heard of one arrest. And then later in the day, the FBI director actually announced a second arrest,” Kolko said. “While investigators are out there doing their job, they get that information. They get that notification that there’s been an arrest that kind of deviates people off to the side a little bit from doing what they were doing. But as soon as they find out that that information one correct, they’re back on it. But it’s kind of like a speed bump in the investigation. There was certainly a communications error on the day that this occurred, but it’s likely that that one, they won’t let that happen again.”
Kolko explained that investigators are examining all aspects of the case. This includes sending the rifle to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to obtain a complete history of the weapon.
“What will happen is we’ll develop a large suspect list, potential suspect list. It could be in, literally in the hundreds,” Kolko explained. “And they will assign those different cases to, agents, investigators, deputies, detectives. And they will each be responsible for a group of those. And then what they’ll do is not so much put that person into the crime, but they’ll be spending some time that they can to eliminate the person from that crime.”
The case presents additional challenges due to the social media attention it has received. Kolko highlighted the difficulties that arise from misinformation spreading online.
“There’s a thing called circular reporting. And what happens is somebody tweets out something, post something on social media, even if it’s completely untrue,” Kolko said. “But then that gets retweeted or reposted, takes on a life of its own, and all of a sudden that’s around the entire planet and people start to believe it or continue to send it around.”
Kolko also explained the reasons for withholding a suspect’s identity in such cases.
“Moment they have this person identified, there will be groups of investigators or agents sitting and writing, search warrants,” Kolko said. “And the FBI and police want to be the first ones at the home. If the name gets out, we can expect the media to rush to that house, and we don’t know what could occur with some of that evidence.”
A high-profile case like this, with its connection to the White House, brings additional pressure, according to Kolko.
“Actually it doesn’t change the approach, but it adds one more task, because now what happens is you’ve got a lot of pressure coming from up above all the way to the White House,” Kolko explained. “And they are demanding answers. So you have to take certain personnel and they have to be deviated from investigative duties to respond to those communications issues, to prepare those briefs that are necessary to make sure that the information flow, somebody calls it Feed the beast, goes goes up the chain and makes it, in this case, possibly all the way up to the White House, but certainly the director of the FBI.”
Kolko emphasized that the added pressure ensures that agents are meticulous in their work.
“Take an extra minute to make sure there’s no, typographical errors, to make sure there’s no numerical errors, to make sure that, there’s no administrative errors because they don’t want something like that to come back and bite them as that moves up the chain,” Kolko said. “But but this is how they’re trained to work. They are. But you can be sure that just because of the additional pressure coming from from upstairs, they’re going to take that extra few minutes to just triple check everything instead of just double checking at this time.”
As the investigation continues, the FBI remains focused on ensuring accurate and timely information is passed along.
