NEW: Private Jet ‘Vanished’ From Site Of Charlie Kirk Assassination

The FBI is facing pressure from the public to explain how officials lost track of a private airplane that seemed to disappear off radars after leaving the area where Charlie Kirk was shot just hours earlier.

Kirk, 31, was gunned down outside Utah Valley University near Salt Lake City while appearing on a leg of his “American Comeback” tour of college campuses. He had just begun answering a question about the motivation of transgender mass shooters when he was fatally struck in the neck by a round from a high-caliber rifle.

Despite detaining two suspects, the FBI later released both and has yet to locate the individual responsible for Kirk’s death. The concerning news that a small plane escaped the area following the shooting has only compounded fears that agents may have lost the ability to trace the suspect, perhaps forever.

A large-scale manhunt was underway but failed to close the Provo Airport, authorities admitted Thursday. The regional airport primarily serves small, local flights and is located just a 10-minute drive away from Utah Valley University.

Speculation rang out on social media after observers noted that a small plane departed one of the airport’s runways shortly after 2 p.m., less than two hours after Kirk was shot and killed. It then reappeared on radar about an hour later, heading south to the Arizona border before disappearing for good.

The jet has an owner in the Utah city of Lehi, according to FAA data reviewed by the Daily Mail.

Retired FBI agent James Gagliano told Fox News on Thursday that it’s possible the assassin could have used the lightly monitored airport to escape justice.

“Was there pre-planning? Absolutely. You had to get access to the roof, this is the most chilling thing about this manhunt,” he said.

“If you come off that roof, there is an open-air parking lot behind that building, it is spitting distance from I-15. This is a big concern because this person, between three to five minutes of that shot going off, could have been in a vehicle on his way out, and miles and miles away.

“Provo Airport is only 45 minutes from there, these are all things you have to consider. This is going to be long and laborious.”

Kirk, a father of two, is believed to have been killed by a shadowy “college-age” figure seen climbing onto a roof about 200 yards away from where he was speaking. Footage shows the figure firing a single round before jumping down from the roof and fleeing into a nearby neighborhood.

Little else is known about the shooter, who authorities say was dressed in all black and wearing aviator-style sunglasses.