Trump Announces Kirk Killer in Custody! What We Know

President Trump announced early Friday that a suspect for Charlie Kirk’s assassination was turned in by his father, with law enforcement sources identifying him as a 22-year-old Utah local named Tyler Robinson.

“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” during a live interview at the cable giant’s Manhattan studio, saying he heard just minutes before his 8 a.m. interview.

“Somebody who was very close to him turned him in,” the President said, then revealing it was the suspect’s dad who relayed it through “a minister who was involved with law enforcement.”

Soon after the President’s announcement, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed that officials have Robinson, the suspect accused of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.

“We got him. On the evening of September 11, a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” Cox said during a news conference on Friday.

The day before Robinson was taken into police custody, Trump said he spoke with the wife of Charlie Kirk, saying she was “devastated” by the killing of her husband.

Trump was boarding Marine One when he spoke with reporters about the assassination and the conversation with Kirk’s wife, Erika Lane Frantzve.

“I spoke to Erika. We had a long talk. She’s devastated,” he said.

Kirk was also a father to two young children.

Trump said he has an “indication” about the motive behind the killing but refused to say anything further.

“Charlie Kirk was a great person, a great man. Great in every way,” Trump said.

The suspect was allegedly believed to have fired a single shot from an elevated position about 200 yards from the tent where Kirk, 31, was seated at the university’s Losee Center, authorities and sources previously told the press.

Initial reports described the suspect as a gunman wearing jeans, a black shirt, and a black vest perched with a long rifle atop a building east of the school’s library.

Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA and dad of two, had just answered a question from an audience member about mass shootings committed by transgender people at the outdoor event on the campus in Orem when he was hit by a single blast of gunfire.

What We Know as of the Morning of September 12

• Charlie Kirk, a conservative media personality, was shot at Utah Valley University while speaking at an event on campus on Wednesday. Kirk died at a local hospital, Utah officials said.

• The suspect arrested and accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been identified as 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson.
• President Donald Trump said on Fox News this morning: “I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him.”
• Robinson’s father identified his son from photos that had been made public, according to a law enforcement official.
• The father told his son to turn himself in. He also called a youth pastor to assist. The pastor called the US Marshals, who took the suspect into custody.

• Authorities said they recovered a “high-powered, bolt-action rifle” used in the shooting from a wooded area.
• Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance arrived in Arizona last night with Kirk’s casket on board Air Force Two.

• Prior to the suspect being taken in, President Donald Trump announced he would present Kirk with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Trump said he would attend a funeral next week for Kirk, “who should not be having a funeral right now,” when asked about his scheduled trip to the U.K. from Sept. 16-18.
• Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that advocated for conservative politics, and hosted one of the top-rated podcasts and nationally syndicated Salem radio program, “The Charlie Kirk Show.”

This remains a developing story.