Early mistakes in the investigation of the fatal shooting at Brown University has left the FBI reliant on another bailout like the tip that led to an arrest in the Charlie Kirk assassination, according to a law enforcement analyst.
Police have released new photo and video evidence of an individual believed to be the suspect but have asked for public assistance in identifying the alleged killer, and former Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem told “CNN News Central” anchor John Berman that FBI Director Kash Patel had bungled the case within hours of the shooting.
It started with the announcement that a person of interest was talking to authorities. That person was later released Sunday.
“The person of interest, I think the FBI was sort of saying, ‘we’ve got our guy,’ and disclosures by Director [Kash] Patel delayed this 18 hours,” Kayyem said. “I will tell you, I saw pictures of them looking through the snow and everything. It snowed, you and I were standing here in the snow on Sunday. Most evidence is now gone, right, so if he drops something, if there were fingerprints or whatever, most of it will be gone.
“So there, I mean, and they admit it, they’re delayed about 18 to 24 hours. Also, students are gone. You know, memories lapse, people are all around the country, around the world now who may have been in that building. So it’s just going to be harder for them.”
“Look, they are committed to doing a restart,” but this is unfortunate,” Kayyem added. “And the public does not want to see law enforcement agencies sort of throwing each other under the bus.”
The FBI has announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, but Kayyem said that shows they’ve failed to produce enough evidence to solve the case themselves.
“It’s money, but it’s not like a huge reward,” she said. “This money and those videos are – someone is recognizing him. He has friends, he has colleagues, he has a girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever. Someone will recognize this, and the $50,000 is essentially, we’re going to make this, you know, we need you to come forward. A stranger is not going to recognize him from that . So unlike, say, the UnitedHealthCare manhunt, this is really not a manhunt in that sense. This is a ‘we need someone near him to come forward.’”
That’s what happened in Kirk’s assassination in September, when Patel prematurely announced the arrest of a person of interest who was released hours later – just like what he did Sunday in the Brown case – and the FBI ultimately made an arrest after the Kirk suspect’s family member turned him in.
“That’s what happened in Utah with the Charlie Kirk shooting, because people who knew that person, even though they were unrecognizable to most people in the video,” Berman said.
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