Shortly after Charlie Kirk was shot, a private jet took off from an airfield located less than 15 minutes away from Utah Valley University and proceeded to turn off its radar services.
As you’ve probably seen by now, the jet immediately fueled a lot of speculation online about the assassin.
For example:
Shortly after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, a private jet under tail number N888KG lifted off from an airfield only 12 minutes away.
30 minutes into the flight it illegally vanished off radar, reappearing later, headed back to Provo.
Was this the assassin’s getaway plane? Why… pic.twitter.com/hQCB9Yu7pg
— HustleBitch (@HustleBitch_) September 11, 2025
The Mirror US provided some more background details on the suspicious flight:
As law enforcement launched a 33-hour manhunt for the suspect accused of gunning down the 31-year-old conservative activist, online sleuths quickly began hypothesizing about how the shooter may have escaped the scene. Some began looking at Provo Airport (PVU), a public-use regional airfield less than 15 minutes drive from the Utah Valley University campus where Kirk was shot in the neck while hosting a debate event on September 10.
Conspiracy theorists online pointed to a private jet that took off from the airport around an hour after the shooting, which occurred at around 12pm local time. A private Bombardier Challenger 300 departed PVU at approximately 1.11pm, according to FlightRadar24.
The private jet’s movements sparked further speculation as it emerged that the plane had turned off its radar services at it approached the northern border of Arizona at around 1.43pm before turning them back on shortly after 2.30pm as the jet departed Page Municipal Airport (PGA) in Arizona and headed back towards Provo, where it landed at 3.06pm local time.
Now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is shutting down claims that the flight was in any way related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
On Sunday, he released a lengthy statement that went into detail about the flight.
He explained that the plane never went completely dark from the FAA’s radar, as many were saying.
Radar services were only briefly ended by mutual agreement between the pilot and ATC, which is not uncommon.
Read Secretary Duffy’s full statement here:
I want to clear up a few points about the private jet departing Provo Airport shortly after the Charlie Kirk assassination took place.
The plane’s owner stated that radar services with air traffic control (ATC) were ended by mutual agreement. Radar services are the active…— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) September 28, 2025
I want to clear up a few points about the private jet departing Provo Airport shortly after the Charlie Kirk assassination took place.
The plane’s owner stated that radar services with air traffic control (ATC) were ended by mutual agreement. Radar services are the active tracking and communication handled by air traffic controllers. Private pilots can voluntarily request to cancel radar services, and ATC may approve. But even when radar services are canceled by the pilot, the FAA’s radar still captures aircraft in the air.
The FAA has also stated that the transponder was never turned off, which is also correct.
A transponder is the aircraft’s onboard system that automatically transmits its identity, altitude, and position to radar and monitoring systems.
To be clear, statements from FAA and the plane’s owner are not in contention.
The flight flown, as verified by their transponder, was consistent with our radar tracking and their flight plan.
I truly appreciate how many people are committed to getting to the truth. My goal is to be as open and helpful as possible throughout this process.
The owner of the plane has been identified as Derek Maxfield, who is the CEO of an online marketing company.
Maxfield also spoke out amid all the speculation concerning the flight.
Per People:
“As often happens, unfortunately, in the wake of such terrifying and public events, a variety of baseless theories and suspicions around Mr. Kirk’s murder immediately took hold on social media, including one that has unfairly impacted our family,” Maxfield wrote on social media the afternoon of Sept. 11..
According to information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the plane’s registration shares an address with Maxfield’s company Komigo.
“Yesterday, at approximately 1:20 pm MT a private aircraft owned by one of our companies, with tail #N888KG, departed the Provo Airport (PVU) for Page, AZ, pursuant to a prescheduled flight plan,” Maxfield detailed in his Instagram post.
The CEO went on to explain the plane departed Provo with two pilots and zero passengers. Upon arrival in Page, Maxfield and seven additional passengers boarded the jet for the return trip to Utah — where his company is located.
“Radar services with air traffic control were terminated in mutual agreement between Denver FAA center and N888KG approximately 10 miles from landing at PGA, which is consistent with generally accepted standard practice when flying in and out of non-towered airports like PGA,” he wrote.
He added: “N888KG pilots followed all FAA requirements and protocols, tower directions and the predetermined flight plan.”
“Any suggestion that the flights by N888KG yesterday are in any way connected to the tragic shooting of Mr. Kirk is inaccurate, false and without any credible basis of any kind,” Maxfield wrote, noting, “To our knowledge, no one associated with yesterday’s flights by N888KG has been contacted by law enforcement for any reason.”
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