"I think we have him," Trump said in an interview with Fox News, adding that the suspect was tipped off by someone who knows him."We have him in custody with a high degree of certainty," the White House chief added. He added that the arrested man is"28 or 29 years old." According to sources at NBC, the detainee's name is Tyler Robinson and he is 22 years old.
"I hope he's found guilty. I can imagine, and I hope, he gets the death penalty for what he did," Trump said. According to The New York Times, the suspect was arrested Thursday night.
Later, Utah Governor Spencer Cox confirmed Robinson's arrest at a press conference.
"We got him," Cox said, adding that on the evening of September 11, a relative of the suspect contacted a family friend who reported to the Washington County Sheriff's Office that Robinson had confessed.
CNN reported that the detainee confessed to his father, who reported the matter to authorities."He promised to keep his son safe until he could be formally detained," CNN reported.
Cox said the suspect's family did the right thing by contacting the police. FBI Director Kash Patel praised Trump for his support.
FOX NEWS ALERT: @POTUS says "with a high degree of certainty" that authorities have Charlie Kirk's assassin in custody.
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) September 12, 2025
American conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot at an event in Utah on Wednesday. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Trump later said Kirk died of a gunshot wound to the neck.
He jumped off the roof and disappeared. FBI releases new footage of Kirk murder suspect
Police arrested two people shortly after the shooting, but both were quickly released. FBI Director Patel managed to announce the arrest of the killer in the meantime. It later turned out that this was a false report.
Kirk, 31, was one of the most prominent pro-Trump activists and conservative media figures in the United States. In 2012, he co-founded Turning Point USA, an organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school and college campuses.
