Utah man suspected in Charlie Kirk murder taken into custody

By Andrew Hay and Jarrett Renshaw

A young Utah man suspected of killing the conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a university forum has been taken into custody, Governor Spencer Cox said on Friday, ending a two-day manhunt that helped fuel national concern over a rising tide of political violence in the U.S.

“We got him,” Cox told reporters at a briefing.

The suspect, identified as Tyler Robinson, had confessed to a family friend – or “implied that he had committed” the murder to that friend – and that person in turn contacted the Washington County sheriff’s office on Thursday.

A family member interviewed by investigators said Robinson had become more political recently and spoke in a disparaging manner about Kirk, Cox said. Robinson was taken into custody on Thursday night, about 33 hours after Kirk’s murder, FBI Director Kash Patel said at the press conference.

Kirk, a close ally of U.S. President Donald