Owner of Plane at Center of Charlie Kirk Shooter Conspiracy Theory Speaks Out

Credit :harles McClintock Wilson/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock; aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty

The owner of a private jet at the center of a conspiracy theory about Charlie Kirk’s killer is speaking out.

Derek Maxfield — the CEO of Komigo, an online marketing company — shared a statement on social media following online speculation that a plane registered to his business’ address could have been used to help the assailant, who is still at large, flee the scene after the conservative influencer was shot and killed during an appearance at Utah Valley University (UVU ) in Orem, Utah on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Authorities have identified a person of interest, but have still not apprehended the individual as of Thursday afternoon.

“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.

As law enforcement continue the search, online sleuths began hypothesizing about the suspect’s escape from the scene, leading some to the Provo Airport (PVU), a public-use regional airfield less than 15 minutes drive from UVU’s campus.

Social media users pointed to a private jet that departed the airport about an hour after the shooting, which took place around 12 p.m. local time. According to FlightRadar24, a private Bombardier Challenger 300 departed PVU around 1:11 p.m. local time.

Around 1:43 p.m. local time, as the jet approached the northern border of Arizona, the plane turned off its Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B), which provides positioning information between the aircraft and air traffic control. Tracking information for the aircraft reappeared shortly after 2:30 p.m. local time as the plane departed Page Municipal Airport (PGA) in Arizona back towards Provo. The plane landed back in Provo at 3:06 p.m. local time, according to FlightRadar24.

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.”

The executive ended his post asking that the “focus remain on praying for and supporting those who have been deeply impacted by yesterday’s events and on the critical efforts of law enforcement to bring Mr. Kirk’s murderer to justice.”