A suspect has been arrested in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, officials announced Friday.
Tyler Robinson, a Utah native, was identified as the person who shot and killed Kirk on Wednesday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said at a press conference in Utah on Friday.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,” Cox said at a press conference Friday.
Robinson, 22, has been booked into the Utah County Jail. Charging documents against Robinson are expected to be filed early next week, Cox said.
He was arrested for felony discharge of a firearm, aggravated murder and obstruction of justice, according to the probable cause documents.
“I want to thank the family members of Tyler Robinson who did the right thing in this case and were able to bring him in to law enforcement,” Cox said.
A family friend contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday night, telling them Robinson confessed or implied that he had killed Kirk, Cox said.
Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who said the suspect had “become more political in recent years,” Cox said.
In a recent incident the family member detailed to investigators, Robinson came to dinner and in a conversation with another family member he mentioned Kirk was coming to Utah Valley University. They talked about why they didn’t like him and his viewpoints.
Forensic evidence has been seized and continues to be gathered. Forensic evidence is already been evaluated at FBI laboratories in Quantico, FBI Director Kash Patel said. Over 11,000 leads were called into the FBI, he said.
Writing on bullet cartridges
Among the evidence was the rifle, retrieved from a bush near the building where the shooting took place, and several bullet cartridges with writing on them. One said, “Hey fascist! CATCH!” while another had the Italian lyrics to a song, “Bella, ciao,” and another said, “If you read this, you are GAY Lmao.”
Apart from the reference to fascism, which Cox said “speaks for itself,” he did not elaborate on the meanings of the other writings.
Officials do not anticipate making any other arrests at this time, Cox said. He said he could not speak to whether the suspect was cooperating with law enforcement.
The suspect was not a student at UVU. He was living and had lived for a long time with his family in St. George, located in southern Washington County, about a four-hour drive from Orem, where the shooting took place, officials said.
Cox urged young people to build a “culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now.”
“To my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option. But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path,” Cox said.
What Trump said
The press conference came soon after President Donald Trump confirmed they had the suspected shooter in custody.
“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends” earlier Friday morning.
He later added, “Subject to change but the facts are the facts we have the person that we think is the person we’re looking for.”
Trump said he was told just five minutes before he went on air for the prescheduled interview that someone was in custody.
“Essentially, somebody that was very close to him turned him in,” Trump said.
Trump said the father of the suspect went to authorities and convinced the son “and this is it,” the president said.
The father of the suspect identified his son as the person being sought by police in photographs distributed by authorities, according to sources.
The father told his son to turn himself in, sources said. The son initially said no, but later changed his mind.
The suspect’s father called a youth pastor who also is a U.S. Marshals task force officer. The task force officer advised him to have his son stay in place and U.S. Marshals took him into custody and contacted the FBI, according to sources.
Trump reiterated in the interview that the shooter should get the death penalty.
“In Utah, you have death penalty, and a good governor there, I have gotten to know him,” Trump said of Cox. “The governor is intent on the death penalty in this case and he should be.”
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Video captures suspect jumping down from roof
In a video of the suspect, which was played during a news conference with state and federal officials Thursday evening, the apparent gunman can be seen climbing down from the roof of a building on the campus of Utah Valley University, where authorities believe he fired the fatal shot and fled from the scene.
The video appeared to show the suspect walking with an unusual gait resembling a limp. Investigators believe that’s because he had the rifle hidden under his clothes, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
“Prior to the shooting, Suspect appears to walk with a stiff, right leg and at a relatively slow pace. Suspect’s ability to bend his right leg appears to be restricted,” Utah County’s affidavit read.
The affidavit later notes that as Robinson approached the shooting position, his limp was “absent.”
Investigators believe that’s because the suspect was no longer concealing the gun in his clothing, the sources said.
They also believe he also did not have the weapon concealed in his clothing as he fled the scene, according to sources.
Utah authorities released photos of the person of interest in the shooting on Thursday in which the individual can be seen walking up the stairs to the top of the building where the shooting took place while carrying a black backpack and wearing a shirt with what appeared to be an American flag print on it.
The FBI said Thursday it had recovered what is believed to be the weapon used in the deadly shooting. A “high-powered bolt action rifle” was recovered in a wooded area near where the shooting took place, according to Salt Lake City FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls.
The rifle is an older model imported Mauser .30-06 caliber bolt action rifle wrapped in a towel, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News. The location of the firearm appears to match the suspect’s route of travel, the sources said.
Officials said that at 11:52 a.m. on Wednesday, the suspect arrived on the Orem campus and then proceeded to travel through the stairwells up to the roof of a building near the where the outdoors event was taking place, before the shooter fired down at Kirk, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said on Thursday.
Kirk was hit by a single shot at approximately 12:20 p.m. and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
After the shooting, the suspected shooter traveled to the other side of the building, jumped off and fled off-campus into a neighborhood, Mason said.
Cox said that violence is happening around the country and said the political assassination of Kirk is “an attack on all of us.”
“I still believe in our country, and I know Charlie Kirk believed in our country. I still believe that there is more good among us than evil, and I still believe that we can change the course of history. I’m hopeful because Americans can make it so,” Cox said.
