U.S. President Donald Trump said 10th that a suspect accused of shooting and killing Charlie Kirk, head of the youth conservative group Turning Point USA, at a Utah university plaza, had been arrested. According to Utah authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the suspect is a 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson.
Trump appeared on Fox & Friends, the morning program of U.S. Fox News, and said, "I heard about five minutes before coming here that (law enforcement) most likely has him in custody," adding, "Pam Bondi and everyone did a great job." He also added that investigators would brief these results soon.
Kirk attended a debate event at the Utah Valley University plaza 10th and, while taking questions from the audience, was shot once and died. The suspect appears to have sniped him from the roof of a building about 180 meters from the event site. Before Trump's interview, the FBI released video of the suspect who assassinated Kirk fleeing. The suspect, dressed in black, was seen sprinting across the roof after the crime, jumping down to a lawn about two stories high, and disappearing toward a nearby roadside.
Kirk is known to have first met Trump during the 2016 presidential election. As one of America's leading young conservatives, he is credited with contributing to Trump's return to power. Trump ordered public institutions across the United States to fly flags at half-staff until 6 p.m. on the 14th to honor Kirk's death. He also said he would posthumously award Kirk the "Presidential Medal of Freedom." Vice President J. D. Vance and his wife canceled their attendance at a 9/11 terror memorial event that had been scheduled in New York, went to Utah, and carried the casket to Arizona.
Trump avoided specific remarks about the gunman that day. But he said, "Someone very close to him reported him," adding, "There will be an announcement today." Asked whether there was a larger force behind the suspect who shot Kirk, he said, "I don't know yet." He added, "Given what he did, I hope he is convicted and sentenced to death," and "The governor is strongly pushing for the death penalty."
Afterward, Utah authorities and the FBI officially announced at a news conference that they had arrested the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. CNN, citing a source, reported, "The arrested man confessed to his father that he was the gunman," adding, "His father said he would alert authorities and hold him until he was arrested."