A man places a candle at a vigil at Orem City Center Park on Thursday, after U.S. right-wing activist and commentator, Charlie Kirk, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah earlier this week.Jim Urquhart/Reuters
A Utah man has been arrested and taken into custody following the shooting death of right wing youth leader and activist Charlie Kirk, authorities said Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the arrest on a Fox News program.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox identified the suspect as Tyler Robinson, a resident of Washington, a town in the state’s southwest corner, three and a half hours’ drive from Utah Valley University, where the shooting took place. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed law enforcement source, gave Mr. Robinson’s age as 22. Mr. Cox said Mr. Robinson had not yet been charged but was expected to be soon.
“We got him,” Mr. Cox told reporters.
Mugshot of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a suspect arrested in connection with the killing of Charlie Kirk.Supplied
Mr. Kirk, 31, was shot to death by a sniper on Wednesday during a public event in the quadrangle of the university in Orem, Utah.
In an appearance on Fox and Friends earlier Friday, Mr. Trump said that a clergyman and the suspect’s father were both involved in turning the man in. The President said that “a minister who was involved with law enforcement” went to a “top U.S. marshal” who is a friend of his and then the suspect’s father got involved.
“They drove into the police headquarters and he’s there now,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Cox said that “a family member” of Mr. Robinson contacted a friend who contacted the sheriff’s office in Washington County. Mr. Robinson had indicated to the family member that he had committed the shooting.
He said the family member also told investigators that Mr. Robinson “had become more political in recent years” and had discussed his dislike of Mr. Kirk and his upcoming appearance at the university during a family dinner conversation.
The Governor said police had also uncovered messages from Mr. Robinson to his roommate discussing leaving a rifle in a bush for later retrieval, changing clothes and engraving messages on bullets, all of which the sniper who killed Mr. Kirk is alleged to have done.
Mr. Cox said that, in addition to the bolt-action rifle believed to be the weapon used in the shooting, police had recovered shell casings with messages such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, ciao, ciao” written on them. The latter is the chorus of a song sung by anti-fascist Italian partisans during the Second World War.
A suspect in the fatal shooting of right-wing youth leader Charlie Kirk at a Utah university has been taken into custody, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday.
Reuters
Police have also recovered additional campus surveillance footage that shows a man believed to be Mr. Robinson driving a Grey Dodge Charger, which Mr. Robinson drives, and sporting the same clothes that Mr. Robinson was wearing when he was arrested.
Police on Thursday had released other photos and videos of a “person of interest” wanted in the case. The photos show a slim man with dark hair in a black shirt with an American flag design, carrying a backpack. The video shows a figure jumping off the roof of a university building and running away after the shooting. Mr. Cox said Mr. Robinson is believed to have changed clothes before the attack.
He also called for the country to stop its descent into political violence.
“We can return violence with violence, we can return hate with hate, and that is the problem with political violence is it metastasises, because we can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point, we have to find an off-ramp because it’s going to get much, much worse,” he said.
Surveillance camera footage released by the FBI showed what they said was the moment Charlie Kirk’s gunman ran away on Wednesday, after carrying out the deadly shooting of the 31-year-old influential conservative activist and close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Reuters
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, police arrested two suspects but released them both after determining they were not the killer.
Mr. Trump said it was amazing police had tracked the suspect down, given how little they initially had to work with.
“We started off with a clip that made him look like an ant, that was almost useless, we just saw there was somebody up there. And so much work has been done over the last two and a half days,” he said.