Utah governor confirms suspect named Tyler Robinson, 22, arrested over killing of Charlie Kirk
A young Utah man suspected of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a university in the city of Orem was in custody on Friday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox has said.
"We got him," Cox told reporters at press conference on Friday.
Cox said the suspect, identified as Tyler Robinson, had confessed to a family friend - or "implied that he had committed the murder" to that friend - and that person in turn had contacted the Washington County sheriff's office on Thursday.
A family member interviewed by investigators said Robinson had become more political recently and spoke in a disparaging manner about Kirk, Cox told reporters.
Cox also said that he believes the shooter acted alone and officials “do not have any information that would lead to any additional arrests”.
He added that investigators believe the suspect acted alone but the investigation is ongoing .
Speaking at the same conference, FBI director Kash Patel said Robinson was taken into custody at 10pm on Thursday.
Before wrapping up the press conference, Cox told reporters about what comes next as they process Tyler Robinson.
“We have three days for charging documents to be filed,” Cox said. “We’ll have more information, then more detailed information as those charging documents are filed in preparation for a preliminary hearing.”
Cox added that the county attorney would be working “very closely” with Charlie Kirk’s family throughout the process.
Charlie Kirk's killer had eluded police and federal agents for about 33 hours after Wednesday's shooting, in which a sniper fired a single gunshot that killed Kirk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, during an appearance at Utah Valley University.
Previously, US investigators said they had found the bolt-action rifle believed to have been used to kill Kirk and released images of a person of interest.
Kirk, an author, podcast host and close ally of Trump, helped build the Republican Party's support among younger voters.
Kirk was the co-founder and president of the conservative student group Turning Point USA and appeared at Utah Valley on Wednesday as part of a planned 15-event "American Comeback Tour" of US college campuses. His killing stirred outrage and denunciations of political violence from Democrats, Republicans and foreign governments.
Earlier, US president Donald Trump said in a TV interview it was his understanding that a suspect has been arrested for the fatal shooting of Kirk.
FOX NEWS ALERT: @POTUS says “with a high degree of certainty” that authorities have Charlie Kirk’s assassin in custody. pic.twitter.com/pXAwik0a0Z
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) September 12, 2025
“I think with a high degree of certainty we have him in custody,” Trump said in a live studio interview with the morning program.
He said that someone very close to the suspect had turned him in.
"In Utah you have death penalty, and a good governor there, I have gotten to know him. The governor is intent on the death penalty in this case and he should be,” Trump said.
Patel and the FBI deputy director, Dan Bongino, had chewed out FBI agents on a Thursday conference call, according to the . This followed Patel himself fumbling early announcements in the case, saying on social media on Wednesday that “the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody” – before that unnamed person was released hours later without charges and the urgent search for the actual perpetrator resumed.
Also on Thursday, investigators had said they had obtained clues, including a palm print, a shoe impression and a high-powered hunting rifle found in a wooded area along the path the shooter fled. But they did not named a suspect or cite a motive in the killing until Friday.
The FBI had offered up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person.
The death of Kirk – a close ally of Trump – has drawn renewed attention to the escalating threat of political violence in the United States which, in the last several years, has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation from political leaders.
Cox said yesterday, “there is a tremendous amount of disinformation” online.
“Our adversaries want violence,” Cox said. “We have bots from Russia, China, all over the world that are trying to instil disinformation and encourage violence. I would encourage you to ignore those, to turn off those streams.” Cox also pledged to find the killer and pursue the death penalty.
Kirk’s casket arrived in his home state of Arizona aboard Air Force Two on Thursday evening, accompanied by JD Vance. The vice-president’s wife, Usha, stepped off the plane with Kirk’s widow, Erika.
Vance helped carry Kirk’s casket with a group of uniformed service members as it was loaded on to the plane. Kirk’s conservative youth organisation, Turning Point USA, was based in Phoenix.
“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote on social media, referencing Kirk’s role in getting Donald Trump elected last year. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
Kirk was a provocateur and a divisive figure who is credited with helping bring young people, especially men, into the US president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement.
In a statement on Thursday, TPUSA wrote: “All of us have lost a leader, a mentor, and a friend. Above all, our hearts are with Erika and their two children. Charlie was the ideal husband and the perfect father. Above all else, we ask you to pray for the Kirks after the incomprehensible loss they have suffered.” Kirk’s killing drew bipartisan condemnation of the rise in political violence in the US.
Trump, who said he would award the Medal of Freedom posthumously to Kirk, spoke to Kirk’s wife on Thursday.
In a video address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, Trump had said: “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it,” Trump said.
One day after his inflammatory address, blaming “the radical left” for Kirk’s death, Trump appeared to strike a more conciliatory tone, agreeing with a suggestion from a reporter that his supporters should not respond with violence.
The White House quickly posted the exchange on social media, perhaps hoping to tamp down anger that has already spilled into violence, with the beating of a critic of Kirk in Boise, Idaho, during a vigil on Wednesday night.
Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska who is retiring after this term, told NBC News that he wished Trump would unite the country after the shooting, “but he’s a populist, and populists dwell on anger”.
“I have to remind people, we had Democrats killed in Minnesota too, right?” Bacon added, in reference to the murder of Minnesota’s former house speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in June by a gunman with a hitlist of 45 people, all Democrats.
