"We got him." 

That's how Utah Governor Spencer Cox started at a live press conference on Friday. The suspect has since been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. 

Robinson was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm, and obstruction of justice charges, according to a court affidavit. A judge ordered that he be held without bail. Formal charges are expected early next week.

Robinson had become “more political” recently and had indicated to a family friend afterwards that he was responsible, said Cox. The governor also cited as key pieces of evidence engravings on bullets found in a rifle believed to have been used in the attack, as well as chatting app messages that a roommate shared with law enforcement after the shooting.

FBI Director Kash Patel says Robinson was taken into custody at 10pm Utah time, or 9pm Reno time. 

Earlier, President Trump said on Fox News Channel a minister turned the suspect in to authorities. Calls to telephone numbers listed for Robinson in public records ring unanswered.

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

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 Utah Valley University in Orem.

More than 7,000 leads and tips had poured in, officials said. By the time Patel spoke on Friday morning, he said that more than 11,000 tips had poured in to the agency. 

New photos of person of interest in Charlie Kirk murder

Previously, the FBI had released two photos of the person of interest.

The shooter, who fired a single shot from a distant roof, remained at large and unidentified on Thursday nearly 24 hours into the investigation.

Investigators sifted through potential clues, including a palm print and a shoe impression found near the scene, as well as a Mauser .30-caliber bolt-action rifle hidden in a towel in a wooded area near the university campus along what they suspect to be the path the shooter took while fleeing. Besides the spent cartridge recovered in the chamber, three other rounds were loaded in the magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to The Associated Press. The weapon and ammunition are being forensically analyzed by law enforcement at a federal lab for clues that could help identify the shooter or the motive.

The Wednesday afternoon attack, carried out in a broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues at a Utah Valley University courtyard, was captured on grisly videos circulating on social media. The videos show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.

Trump, who was joined by Democrats in condemning the violence, said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., while Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, were set to visit with Kirk’s family in Salt Lake City. Vance posted a remembrance on X chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s Senate run and ultimately praying after hearing of the shooting.

“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Kirk’s casket was to be flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona, where his his nonprofit political youth organization, Turning Point USA, is based.

The Washoe County Republican Party is hosting a peace vigil at 7 p.m. Friday at the Downtown City Plaza in downtown Reno.

Suspect’s family home surrounded by police

There was a heavy police presence outside the suspect’s family’s house in St. George, Utah, as media arrived.

Window coverings were drawn, and a pickup truck was parked in front of the home on the street, blocking access to the driveway.

Officers routinely were warning people to stay off neighbors’ property. Both ends of the street also were blocked, confusing some motorists.

Details of messages on bullet casings revealed

Bullet casings discovered by investigators had several inscriptions engraved on them, Cox said. The casing that had been fired read: “notices bulges OWO what’s this?”

1. Cox said there were three unfired casings:

2. One read, “hey fascist! catch!” with an up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols.

3. Another one read: “oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao,” Cox said.

4. The third fired casing read: “if you read this you are gay lmao.”

Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political youth organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, at the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus. Immediately before the shooting, he took questions from an audience member about gun violence.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.”

The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

Then a shot rang out.

The shooter, who Gov. Spencer Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away.

Madison Lattin was watching a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she heard the bullet hit him.

“Blood is falling and dripping down, and you're just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety," she said.

She saw people drop to the ground in an eerie silence pierced immediately by cries. She and others ran. Some fell and were trampled in the stampede.

When Lattin later learned that Kirk had died, she wept, she said, describing him as a role model who had showed her how to fight for the truth.

Trump calls Kirk a ‘martyr for truth’

About 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety. The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk's own security detail, authorities said.

Trump announced Kirk's death on social media and praised the 31-year-old co-founder and CEO of Turning Point as “Great, and even Legendary.” Later, he released a video in which he called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom."

Utah Valley University said the campus was evacuated after the shooting and will be closed until Monday.

Meanwhile, armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for any information residents might have on the shooting. Helicopters buzzed overhead.

Wednesday's event, billed as the first stop on Kirk's “The American Comeback Tour,” had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

Condemnation from across the political spectrum

The shooting drew swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials joined Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence.

“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.

In a joint statement, the Young Democrats of Connecticut and the Connecticut Young Republicans called the shooting “unacceptable.”

“There is no place in our country for such acts regardless of political disagreements,” they said.

The shooting appeared poised to become part of a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade in June to demand Hamas release hostages and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally last year.

(Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

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