U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One upon departure for New York, in Washington, D.C., U.S., Sept. 11, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Friday said the suspected shooter of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk is in custody.
The suspect has been identified as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah, five senior law enforcement officials told NBC News later Friday morning.
“I think with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News.
“I think we’re in great shape,” he said. “He’s in custody.”
“Essentially somebody that was very close to him turned him in,” Trump said.
The remarks came shortly before authorities were set to hold a news conference on their manhunt for the assassin who fatally shot Kirk on Wednesday during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.
Ahead of that press event, three senior law enforcement officials told NBC that the suspect had been turned into police by a family member who saw photos that were shared by the FBI.
A combination photo shows a person of interest in the fatal shooting of U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S., in security footage released by the Utah Department of Public Safety on September 11, 2025.
Utah Department Of Public Safety | Via Reuters
The president said on Fox that he had been informed of the arrest just minutes before the interview began, and noted that some details are “subject to change.”
“But you know, the facts are the facts. We have the person that we think is the person we’re looking for. But they drove into the police headquarters, and he’s there now,” Trump said.
Trump added: “I hope he gets the death penalty.”
The FBI on Thursday released two grainy photos of a “person of interest” and video footage showing a person jumping off the rooftop from where Kirk was shot and fleeing. But authorities have yet to share a suspect’s name or announce an arrest.
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.
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