OREM, Utah (TNND) — President Donald Trump said on Friday, “with a high degree of certainty,” that the suspect in the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk is in custody.
Trump announced the breaking news during a live interview with “Fox & Friends,” adding that “someone very close to him turned him in.”
“It was a minister, and the minister went to a friend – a minister who’s involved in law enforcement, by the way, and his good friend is a top US marshal, and they took it from there and then it was a father got involved,” he said.
Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press the suspect in custody is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Utah. The FBI and Justice Department did not immediately comment, but a news conference was set to take place later Friday morning.
Sources told CNN that the shooter confessed to his father, who then told authorities he had secured his son until he could be formally detained.
The president called Kirk “the finest person” while saying he hopes the shooter gets the death penalty.
“Well, I hope — he’s going to be found guilty, I would imagine — and I hope he gets the death penalty,” Trump said. “What he did, Charlie Kirk, he was the finest person that he didn’t deserve this. He worked so hard and so well, everybody liked him.”
Gov. Spencer Cox signaled on Thursday that he would seek the death penalty for the shooter.
Federal investigators and state officials released photos and video of the person of interest on Thursday. The suspect’s motive has not been released.
Kirk was shot in the neck on Wednesday in what police called a “targeted attack” as he allegedly discussed transgender shooters with a crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem. He co-founded the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and was a close ally of Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Videos showed stunned attendees running away and screaming as Kirk reached up to touch his neck while blood gushed from the left side.
Authorities said they had more than 7,000 leads and tips pour in.
The FBI said on Thursday that they recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle in the woods near the scene. Video showed the shooter jumping off the roof and fleeing.
Robert Bohls, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office, told reporters on Thursday that footwear impressions, a palm print, and forearm imprints found at the scene would be analyzed by the FBI.
Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said authorities were able to track the movements of the shooter, who arrived on campus at 11:52 a.m.
“We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the river to a shooting location,” Mason explained. “After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building and fled off of the campus into a neighborhood.”
Trump announced during his appearance at the 9/11 memorial event in New York City that he will posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S.
“Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty, and an inspiration to millions and millions of people,” Trump said. “We miss him greatly, yet I have no doubt that Charlie’s voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people, especially young people, will live on.”
Vance and his wife, Usha, escorted Kirk’s casket and his family on Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona on Thursday. Details for a funeral have not been announced.
