Suspect arrested, identified in shooting of Charlie Kirk, officials say

(SALT LAKE CITY) — A suspect has been arrested in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, officials announced Friday.

Tyler Robinson was allegedly the person who shot and killed Kirk on Wednesday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed at a press conference in Utah on Friday. 

“We got him,” Cox said at a press conference Friday.

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. 

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 Gov. Spencer Cox. “The governor is intent on the death penalty in this case and he should be.”

In the latest 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 rom the scene.

The FBI said it was offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible for Kirk’s murder.

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.

So far authorities have received more than 7,000 tips and leads and completed some 200 interviews, Cox said Thursday.

Amid the manhunt for the shooter, officials said Thursday they are working “around the clock” to locate the person of interest, who is believed to be college-aged.

The FBI also said Thursday it has 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.

The spent cartridge was still chambered and three unspent cartridges contained wording on them expressing what some law enforcement officials described as “transgender and anti-fascist” writing, according to preliminary information shared with agencies. It’s unclear what that means and authorities are still working to determine the meaning or whether the markings were intended as misdirection for investigators.

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. Officials are working through nearby neighborhoods, contacting people with doorbell cameras and speaking to witnesses to identify any leads, Mason said.

“I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this, we will find you. We will try you, and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law,” Cox said during a press briefing Wednesday, calling the fatal shooting a “political assassination.”

He said state officials are already moving to pursue the death penalty if the case goes to trial.