The US President announced the arrest in a live interview with Fox News.
"Someone close to him reported him," Trump said, later adding that a pastor and the suspect's father contributed to the arrest.
A while later, it is confirmed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who states during a press conference that the man the FBI has arrested is Tyler Robinson (22) from Utah.
"I hope Kirk's killer is convicted and gets the death penalty," Trump said on Fox News.
Large-scale pat hunt
Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while attending an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in the city of Orem, Utah, on Wednesday.
The police have since launched an intense hunt for the person or persons behind the attack.
On Thursday, they released photos of a person of interest and offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information that could lead to the identification and arrest of the person or persons behind the murder.
A rifle believed to belong to the perpetrator was found in a grove of trees near the scene shortly after the murder.
Robinson has reportedly confessed to the murders of both a family member and his roommate. According to CNN, his father has reportedly identified his son from photos and asked him to turn himself in. A pastor has reportedly helped contact the police.
According to the Utah governor, a family member told investigators that the 22-year-old had developed an interest in politics in recent years, and that he and another family member recently talked about why they didn't like Kirk, in connection with his visit to the city.
Robinson was arrested at 10 p.m. local time Thursday in Utah, FBI Director Kash Patel announced at a press conference Friday afternoon.
According to the FBI director, he was arrested after 33 hours.
Writing on cartridges
The markings on the cartridges may indicate that the suspect was deeply involved in internet culture and included references to Antifa, the anti-fascist movement, writes BBC.
A fired cartridge case was inscribed with notices bulges OwO what’s this?, a reference to a copypasta, i.e. a text that is repeated over and over again, often to troll people online.
Another sleeve was inscribed with the lyrics to Bella Ciao, a song honoring the partisans of the Italian resistance movement during World War II, who fought against Nazi Germany.
The third unfired shell casing was inscribed If you read this, you are gay lmao , another reference to online trolling.
Hard attack on the left side
Kirk, described as one of the most important leaders in the MAGA movement and a close ally of Trump, has been met with widespread condemnation across the political spectrum.
Trump himself came out hard against the radical left after the murder.
"The radical left has compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis, the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. That kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism we see in our country today, and it must stop immediately," he said in a speech from the Oval Office after the murder.
Kirk's ideology was closely linked to Trump, and he had millions of followers on social media.
He supported Trump's false claims of voter fraud after his loss in the 2020 presidential election and used his influence to attack immigrants and transgender people.
