Law enforcement officials asked the public for help identifying a college-age man who they said is a person of interest in the death of Charlie Kirk. (Photos courtesy of FBI)

A suspect in Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting is in custody, federal and state officials announced Friday morning. 

Law enforcement arrested Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Washington County resident. He was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder and felony discharge of a firearm, both first-degree felonies, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

“We got him,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a news conference Friday morning.

Aggravated murder is a capital crime in Utah, reserved for particularly heinous murders involving torture, sex crimes and assassinations, and if sentenced, Robinson could be executed. Cox said twice this week that prosecutors will be pursuing the death penalty. Robinson is currently being held without bail.

Kirk, a widely known and often polarizing conservative activist known for debating students on college campuses, was shot and killed during a Turning Point USA public speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, unleashing a search that involved more than 20 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The FBI also offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the shooter.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by investigators, one of Robinson’s family members reached out to a family friend on Thursday evening — that family friend contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office “with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”

Investigators at the FBI and Utah Valley University reviewed surveillance footage from the university and identified Robinson arriving on campus in a gray Dodge Challenger at about 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Robinson was also seen in surveillance footage wearing a “Converse/Chuck Taylor” shoe, according to the affidavit. When investigators encountered him in person early Friday morning, they note in court documents that Robinson “was observed in consistent clothing with the surveillance images.”

A family member who talked with investigators said Robinson had become more political in recent years and that prior to Wednesday, he had mentioned Kirk’s visit to Utah Valley University. He has no prior criminal history, according to court documents.

Court documents also detail a recent family dinner prior to the Sept. 10 shooting, where Robinson “mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints he had. The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate. The family member also confirmed Robinson had a grey Dodge Challenger.”

Robinson was not currently a student at Utah Valley University. He is a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, the Utah Board of Higher Education confirmed.

Law enforcement also spoke with Robinson’s roommate, who shared Discord messages from Robinson “stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left, and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel.”

The gun, Cox said, was a Mauser .30-06 bolt-action rifle, a gun capable of shooting long distances, often used for hunting deer or elk.

Messages reviewed by law enforcement also referred to engraving bullets. Cox said inscriptions found on the shell casings included messages like “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao” and “if you read this, you are gay LMAO.”

The governor said he didn’t have information about whether Robinson suffered from a mental illness.

Charging documents may be filed early next week, Cox said.

“This is a very sad day for, again, 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.

The FBI is still pursuing the over 7,000 leads that it had received as of Friday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel said during the news conference.

Patel, who traveled to Utah during the investigation, thanked the governor and the local law enforcement agencies for resolving the case.

Forensic evidence has been analyzed in different FBI labs across the country, and state and local authorities will continue to process evidence, Patel said.

“In less than 36 hours, 33 to be precise, thanks to the full weight of the federal government and leading out with the partners here in the state of Utah and Gov. Cox, the suspect was apprehended in a historic time period,” Patel said.

Earlier on Friday morning, President Donald Trump said a suspect was in custody.

“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” he said on Fox News.

‘An attack on the American experiment’

Cox, who has championed a campaign to combat polarization, argued this incident was about the “political assassination of Charlie Kirk,” he said.

“But it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times,” Cox said.

The fatal attack on Kirk may make it harder for people to feel like they can speak freely, the governor said. And, without a safe way to discuss opposing views, the country won’t be able to solve issues, “including the violence problems that people are worried about.”

“To my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” Cox said. “But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path. Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now.”

Whether this is a turning point for the best or worst, is yet to be seen, Cox said. But, after gory videos of Kirk’s shooting became widespread, he also called social media “a cancer on our society” and encouraged people to “log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”