President Donald Trump announced early Friday that a suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk was handed over by his own father. Law enforcement sources told The Post that the suspect is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Utah.
“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” Trump said during a live interview on Fox & Friends in Manhattan. He explained that the suspect’s father relayed the information through a minister connected with law enforcement. “I hope he’s going to be found guilty, and I hope he gets the death penalty. What he did, Charlie Kirk was the finest person and he didn’t deserve this,” Trump added.
Investigators are expected to give a public update later Friday morning.
Authorities said the suspect allegedly fired a single shot from an elevated position about 200 yards from the tent where Kirk, 31, was seated at Utah Valley University’s Losee Center. Early reports described the gunman as wearing jeans, a black shirt, and a black vest, armed with a long rifle from a rooftop east of the library.
Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA and father of two, had just answered a question about mass shootings committed by transgender people when he was struck by the bullet. Dramatic video showed him recoiling, clutching his neck, and the crowd scattering in panic.
Trump said he avoided watching the graphic footage. “I heard about it… I didn’t want to watch it. I didn’t want to remember Charlie that way.”
The manhunt involved the FBI, Orem Police, Utah Department of Public Safety, and Utah Valley University Police. Earlier, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that a person of interest had been questioned and released, but that individual was not Robinson. The FBI had also set up a tipline and announced a $100,000 reward for information.
After Kirk’s death was confirmed, Trump mourned him on Truth Social: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better.” He later called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom,” adding, “This is a dark moment for America.”
Kirk was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery but did not survive, according to medical staff. He leaves behind his wife, former Miss Arizona Erika Frantzve, and their two young children.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox condemned the killing as a “political assassination,” stressing: “This is a dark day for our state, it’s a tragic day for our nation. I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty in Utah.”
