Suspected Kirk killer identified

OREM, Utah (AP) — The suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination has been captured, President Donald Trump said Friday, representing a significant breakthrough in the investigation into a targeted killing that raised fresh alarms about political violence in the United States.

“With a high degree of certainty, we have him,” Trump announced in a live interview on Fox News Chanel. He said a minister also involved with law enforcement turned the suspect in to authorities.

“Somebody that was very close to him said, ‘Hmm, that’s him,’” Trump said.

The suspect in custody in connection with Kirk’s killing is a 22-year-old from Utah, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Authorities have identified the suspect as Tyler Robinson, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Calls to telephone numbers listed for Robinson in public records rang unanswered.

Kirk was killed by a single shot in what police said was a targeted attack and Utah’s governor called a political assassination. Kirk co-founded the nonprofit political organization Turning Point USA, based in Arizona.

Authorities recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle near the scene of the shooting and had said the shooter jumped off a roof and vanished into the nearby woods afterward.

Kirk had been speaking at a debate hosted by Turning Point at Utah Valley University at the time of Wednesday’s shooting. He was taken to a local hospital and was pronounced dead hours later.

“He wanted to help young people, and he didn’t deserve this,” Trump said Friday. “He was really a good person.”

Federal investigators and state officials on Thursday had released photos and a video of the person they believe is responsible. Kirk was shot as he spoke to a crowd gathered in a courtyard at the university in Orem.

More than 7,000 leads and tips had poured in, officials said. Authorities have yet to cite a motive in the killing, the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States.