First Man Arrested in Charlie Kirk Shooting Said He Shot Kirk: Sheriff

George Zinn was taken into custody, and later released.

Workers repair the courtyard where political activist Charlie Kirk was shot, in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 15, 2025. Chet Strange/Getty Images

The first man arrested by law enforcement officers after Charlie Kirk was shot in Utah on Sept. 10 said he shot Kirk, before he was taken into custody, authorities said on Sept. 16.

George Zinn was “yelling that he had shot Charlie Kirk,” the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Zinn was arrested as a suspect in the shooting, the Utah Department of Public Safety said previously. The department said he and the second suspect taken into custody were both released and had no ties to the shooting.

The man was taken to the police department at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said in the new update. He declined to cooperate with law enforcement.

Zinn was then transported to a local hospital because he experienced “a medical issue” and at the hospital stated that he was not the shooter.

While speaking with an FBI agent and a state agent, Zinn “admitted that he had yelled that he was the shooter to allow the actual suspect to flee and to hinder law enforcement,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Zinn let agents look at his phone, and agents found pictures of young girls who were scantily clad, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities later executed a search warrant on the phone and found more than 20 sexual images of children, the office said. Zinn allegedly told investigators that he used his phone to view sexually abused children.

Zinn is currently being held in the Utah County Jail on charges of felony obstruction of justice and sexual exploitation of a minor.

“At this time, there is no information that George Zinn actually colluded with the shooter,” the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said.

The Utah Department of Public Safety said that the second suspect arrested for Kirk’s shooting was Zachariah Qureshi. Relatives of Qureshi told a local broadcaster that Qureshi went to the university to see Kirk and witnessed him being shot.

Authorities later arrested Tyler Robinson, a student at Dixie Technical College, for the murder of Kirk. Photographs, video footage, and online messages support the case against Robinson, according to prosecutors, FBI Director Kash Patel, and other officials.

Patel told a congressional committee on Tuesday that the FBI is looking into a group on the messaging platform Discord in which Robinson was involved. “Those closest to the suspect are going to hopefully know the most about the suspect and his beliefs and his ideology,” he said.

It’s not clear if Robinson has retained a lawyer.