According to President Donald Trump and Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been taken into custody. The suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. Authorities stated that Robinson had expressed opposition to Kirk’s viewpoints to family members before the shooting. Governor Cox noted that Robinson had become “more political” in recent years. Investigators also found engravings on bullets believed to have been used in the attack, with one reading, “Hey fascist! Catch!”
The shooting occurred on Wednesday, September 10, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, where Kirk was speaking at a debate titled “Prove Me Wrong” in front of an estimated 3,000 people. A single gunshot was fired from a rooftop, striking Kirk in the neck. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Following the incident, a manhunt was initiated, and investigators recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle from a nearby wooded area.
The arrest of the suspect was confirmed by President Trump on Friday morning on Fox News, who stated that a person who knew him had turned him in. Governor Cox later confirmed that a family friend of Robinson’s had contacted authorities with information that Robinson had either confessed to or implied he was responsible for the shooting. The governor has called the killing a “political assassination.”
