Tyler Robinson ID’d as suspect after arrest

Officials on Friday identified the suspected shooter of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah man, following his arrest overnight.

Robinson has been booked at Utah County Jail, Gov. Spencer Cox announced at a news conference.

The announcement of Robinson’s arrest came after President Donald Trump revealed earlier Friday morning on Fox News that Kirk’s suspected killer was in custody.

Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.

The president said on Fox of Kirk’s killer, “I hope he gets the death penalty.”

Cox said at the press event that a friend of Robinson’s family told the sheriff’s office in Utah’s Washington County on Thursday evening that Robinson had either confessed or “implied that had committed this incident.”

When investigators encountered Robinson in person early Friday morning, he was wearing clothing consistent with what UVU surveillance footage showed when it captured him driving onto campus before the shooting, the governor said.

A family member told investigators in an interview that Robinson had “become more political in recent years,” Cox said.

The Republican governor also confirmed that the gun police found in a wooded area where the gunman fled after shooting Kirk was Mauser model 98 .30-06 caliber bolt-action rifle with a mounted scope.

Several casings found with the rifle had been engraved with messages, some of which appear to reference online memes and video games, Cox said.

One unfired casing was inscribed, “hey fascist! CATCH!”

While the governor said he would leave it to others to interpret what the engravings mean, he said that one “speaks for itself.”

That casing also showed a series of directional arrows, which could be a reference to the button input pattern that triggers a large bomb strike in the video game “Helldivers 2.”

Another casing’s inscription referenced a meme that parodies online subcultures.

“This is a very sad day for our country, a terrible day for the state of Utah, but I’m grateful that at this moment, we have an opportunity to bring closure to this very dark chapter in our nation’s history,” Cox said.

Kirk, 31, was the founder of conservative group Turning Point USA, which focuses its political activism on high schools and colleges. He was at UVU in Orem for the first stop on Turning Point’s “American Comeback Tour,” according to the group’s website.

Kirk was in the middle of answering an audience member’s question, which was about mass shootings, when a gunman shot him once in the neck, sending thousands of people running and screaming for safety.

While the manhunt was ongoing, the FBI on Thursday released two grainy photos of a “person of interest” and video footage showing someone jumping off the rooftop from where Kirk was shot.

The FBI offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest.

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