Kirkland was killed but will ultimately help catch RJ. When he gave Smith coffee it was mentioned how prepared he is foreshadowing the fact he'll have set something up to go in motion in the event of his death.

 Heller always turns down , he does not know what to do next , he is trying to buy some tie, he does not really know what to do. NONE OF CURRENT CHARACTERS ARE SATISFACTORY TO BE RED JOHN TO MAKE STORY A LEDENG ,he needs to create a new character urgently, otherwise he will constantly twist the audience around. List is terrible , he made the wrong with list , none of that person can be RJ.Bertram--> An idiotic baldy
Reed--> Regular asshole(no deepness of a powerful , genius serial killer)
Sheriff--> A regular local sheriff, going home drinks some bear and sleeps.His sexual life even terrible , check his face.
Stiles--> He is a great man, he would not waste his time with Patrick, he is far beyond over mental games,childish for him.Partridge--> Was best candidate, Heller migh resurruct him, if he cannot find something more mysterious unexpected or clever
Hafner--> Has potential to be demonic person, his eyes looks very constant and he has a poker face, but he is so ordinary to be RJRedjohn is a dangerous person, he has terrible kind of power , he does not need to play or hide RJ to another role, SO I BELIEVE HELLER WİLL GIVE US SOMEONE WE NEVER SEE BEFORE AS RJ, ONLY THIS OPTION MIGHT MAKE THIS SERIAL KIND OF A LEGEND ENDING SERIAL.

How the heck did Patrick Jane come to the conclusion to put this people on his list of the prime suspects?!? Will he ever give us his reason? He was always very attentive to all the clues he could gather about Red John ... but to what purpose? What did he instead use to exclude suspects until it was this seven left?!?

I believe that it is not one of his seven suspects. If you remember in a very recent episode Jane tells Lisbon that Red John would lead you to what he wants you to believe, just like he is doing with Jane!

I think Kirkland is still alive.  After he is arrested Reede Smith says he will be transferred to a federal detention centre "in a few days".  So we know some time has passed since the time he was shot and the time he is arrested. 

After he is arrested Kirkland tells Jane to visit him sometime.  Maybe they knew that the tyger tyger organisation would make a move on Kirkland so they made a plan to help him escape.  The van driver could be one of Kirkland's men and might have used a blank gun and blood packs to make the shots look convincing. 

Kirkland knows about the tyger tyger organisation so she could have instructed the driver to say it to Smith to make it look convincing.

I see that there are some "Pro heller" folks posting negative comments under good theories and comments  I see :)

AND

Clicking on 'Unlikely' even for Good theories :)

Come on !!! you thought you would go unnoticed? :) this is the real world you know :)

This show has become more like 'weekend at Bernies', with RJ (invisible in this case) in glasses being pulled and pushed around.....

Or more like 'Hangover 4' . Everyone seems to have a major WTF moment after every episode

I am just watching the show for humor.....