Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump said Friday morning that authorities have arrested a suspect in the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, describing the breakthrough as the result of a tip from someone close to the alleged gunman.
“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” Trump said during a live interview on “Fox & Friends” from the network’s studio. “Somebody who was very close to him turned him in.”
Kirk, 31, co-founder of Turning Point USA and a father of two, was killed Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem. Authorities said the attacker fired a single round from an elevated position roughly 200 yards from the outdoor tent where Kirk was answering questions from the audience.
Initial descriptions of the suspect suggested a man wearing jeans, a black shirt and a black vest, armed with a long rifle, perched on a rooftop east of the campus library.
Video from the event showed Kirk recoiling after being struck in the neck, clutching at the wound as the sound of the gunshot echoed and the crowd of thousands erupted in panic.
The manhunt for the shooter involved at least four agencies, including the FBI, the Utah Department of Public Safety, the Orem Police and the Utah Valley University Police.
FBI Director Kash Patel initially announced hours after the shooting that a person of interest was in custody, but later said that individual had been released following questioning. Patel confirmed that the person was not the same individual now under arrest.
The FBI had established a tip line on Wednesday and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the suspect’s capture. Trump said the arrest came after authorities received new information from someone close to the suspect.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social following the shooting. He later added in a video message that he was “filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
Authorities have not yet released the suspect’s name or any details about charges.
UPDATED, 9:15 a.m. ET: NBC News reported the identity of the shooter as Tyler Robinson, 22, from Utah. More details to come.
This is a developing story.