Donald Trump has revealed Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin was finally taken into custody after the accused killer’s father turned him in to law enforcement.
‘I think with a high degree of certainty we have him in custody,’ the president announced on Fox & Friends Friday morning.
Sources told the Daily Mail that the suspect is Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Washington, Utah. Robinson is a student at Utah State University.
The 22-year-old confessed to his father, Matt Robinson, that he was the shooter, the sources confirmed.
His father then tipped off law enforcement and secured his son until officers arrived.
The suspect’s father, Matt Robinson, is a deputy at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and has served for more than 27 years. His mother, Amber Robinson, works for Intermountain Support Coordination Services, a company contracted by the state of Utah to help disabled people receive care.
The alleged shooter lived in a $600,000 six-bedroom home in Washington, Utah – around 260 miles south of where the carnage unfolded in Orem.
Trump revealed how the manhunt finally came to an end when ‘somebody who was very close’ to the suspect turned him in to police – referring to the tipster as the assassin’s ‘minister’ and ‘father’.
President Donald Trump revealed the shooting suspect who assassinated Charlie Kirk is in custody
Kirk, 31, was gunned down at an event on Utah Valley University’s campus on Wednesday, September 10, 2025
‘It was a minister who was involved with law enforcement… his good friend is a top U.S. Marshal – and they took it from there,’ Trump said, suggesting the suspect’s father told him it was time to turn themselves in.
Sources told CNN the individual was still being questioned as of Friday morning.
Law enforcement will share more details about the suspect’s arrest later on Friday, the president said. A press conference is slated to begin at 9.30am ET.
Neither the FBI nor the Utah Department of Public Safety have confirmed Trump’s announcement.
Trump’s announcement came just two days after the conservative luminary was gunned down during an event on a college campus in Utah, in a horrific moment that was captured on video and shared across the globe.
Trump said he wants to see the killer get the death penalty for the assassination of the man he described as the ‘finest person’.
‘Well, I hope he’s going to be found guilty, I would imagine and I hope he gets the death penalty,’ Trump said.
‘What he did, Charlie Kirk, he was the finest person that, he didn’t deserve this. He worked so hard and so well, everybody liked him.’
The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination has been identified as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident
Robinson was a student at Utah Valley University, insiders confirmed to Daily Mail
The FBI released screengrabs of surveillance footage of a person of interest in Charlie Kirk’s assassination during the manhunt
Local police in Utah released different angles of the subject walking in a stairwell at Utah Valley University
Utah Governor Spencer Cox has signaled he plans to seek the death penalty, he said.
‘In Utah, they have the death penalty, and you have a very good governor there,’ Trump said.
‘The governor, I’ve gotten to know him, the governor is very intent on the death penalty in this case.’
The president had traveled to his longtime home of New York City on Thursday for the September 11 Yankees’ remembrance game. He stayed overnight and went in studio for his interview with Fox & Friends.
The arrest comes just hours after officials admitted they had ‘no idea’ where the shooter was and enlisted the public’s help, sharing new surveillance footage of the suspect moments after the attack.
The FBI also offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
In the video, the shooter is seen running across the roof of the Lossee Center at Utah Valley University and jumping to the ground, before fleeing the scene.
Officials said the shooter left behind a palm print and a shoe print from a pair of Converse sneakers.
The suspect is then believed to have fled to a nearby residential neighborhood, where surveillance footage captured him casually walking by.
New surveillance footage shows the gunman who fatally shot Charlie Kirk jumping off the roof and escaping in the moments after opening fire
In the footage, the suspect could be seen running across the roof of the Lossee Center at Utah Valley University
Officials said the shooter appeared to be ‘of college age’.
Photos show him dressed in dark clothes with aviator sunglasses, a black mask, Converse shoes and a patriotic t-shirt that reads ‘land of the free, home of the brave’.
The murder weapon – a high-powered, bolt-action rifle – was used in the woods nearby.
Investigators reportedly found ammunition engraved with ‘transgender and anti-fascist remarks’ inside the discarded rifle, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Three unspent rounds with writing on them were also reportedly left inside the magazine.
Vice President JD Vance and wife Usha canceled their plans to go to New York City for Ground Zero services on Thursday to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to join Kirk’s family.
Vance was seen carrying Kirk’s casket along with his wife, two kids, parents and close friends aboard Air Force Two back to his home state of Arizona.
Kirk, 31, was speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem at around 12.20pm on Wednesday.
The MAGA influencer was taking questions from students among a 3,000-strong crowd during Kirk’s ‘American Comeback’ event.
He had just taken a question about mass shootings and gun violence when a single shot was fired from the roof of the Losee Center – around located 200 yards away.
Kirk was struck in the neck – sending him toppling over in his chair.
Crowds fled the scene in terror while Kirk’s security detail rushed toward him.
The father of two was rushed to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Trump announced Kirk’s death a couple of hours later, declaring: ‘The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead.
‘He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!’
Trump ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff in his memory.