Former BPD commissioner says it's "critical" to release photos of person of interest in Charlie Kirk shooting
The FBI has released images of the person suspected of assassinating right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk during an event in Utah on Thursday.
For WBZ security analyst Ed Davis, the release of the photos brings up memories of the internal debate had by law enforcement regarding the release of images of the Tsarnaev brothers after the Boston Marathon bombings.
"When there's urgency like this in an investigation when you don't know what the suspect is going to do next, it's almost critical that you do this," Davis said.
Davis was the Boston police commissioner at the time.
"As a local police chief, I was worried about the next football game, the next baseball game," Davis said. "The Red Sox were calling me asking if they could open the park."
In the Utah case, Davis says investigators likely already ran the suspect pictures through criminal and other databases using facial recognition. They are also tracing the suspect's firearm.
"I'm sure the ATF is running down the serial numbers of that weapon to find out where it was sold last and who might have had their hands on it. There's going to be touch DNA evidence possibly on the weapon," Davis said.
Davis said there can be problems with the release of suspect photos, including the volume of tips investigators must parse through. There could also be false leads that can cause issues for the prosecution when the suspect is caught. Davis said overall, the benefits outweigh the risks.
Political activist rethinking future
There is a roadmap for the investigation but for political activists across the spectrum, the way forward is not so clear. Left-wing commentator, Hasan Piker, was set to debate Charlie Kirk at Dartmouth College in two weeks. Piker says he is now thinking of stepping up his security at future events.
"I think probably, in the future, I'll have to be a little bit more secure about what kind of events I do and how I conduct myself. I don't know if I'll be able to just run around as freely as I did," Piker said.