A 71-year-old audience member present when Charlie Kirk was shot dead, shouted at a police officer, “I shot him, now shoot me”, in a bid to give the real shooter more time to escape, police have said.
New police documents obtained by news outlet Fox13 allege that the man, named as George Zinn, drew police focus in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s shooting, which led to him being charged with obstruction of justice.
The documents say that moments after Kirk was shot in the neck in front of thousands of students at Utah State University, Zinn approached police officers shouting, “I shot him, now shoot me.” Despite no weapon being obvious, Zinn continued to claim he was the shooter, which led to his arrest.
When asked about the location of the gun by the arresting officers, Zinn refused to answer.
While being escorted from the scene in handcuffs, he again told police to “just shoot me”.
Once he was in police custody, Zinn asked for an attorney and then said he had not, in fact, shot Kirk but had made the unfounded claims “to draw attention from the real shooter.”
Zinn later made similar comments, the report said, adding he “wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot”.
Police said dealing with Zinn delayed their response to Kirk’s shooting and took up resources needed to help with the investigation into who had actually shot the right-wing campaigner.
The following evening, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was accused of Kirk’s murder after surrendering to police.
Surveillance video from the college campus shows a figure jumping from a rooftop and fleeing the scene moments after the shooting.
The FBI said a Mauser bolt-action rifle allegedly used to kill Kirk was found near bullet casings with messages inscribed into them, including “Hey fascist! Catch!”
A towel found wrapped around the gun, and a screwdriver, which agents found on the roof of the building, were a positive match for Robinson’s DNA, the FBI said.
Authorities have not yet determined a whole motive for the shooting, but FBI director Kash Patel said Robinson was radicalized online and subscribed to a “leftist” ideology.
The Trump administration has claimed – without presenting public evidence – that the shooting was part of an organized left-wing terror plot, and vowed on Monday to go after the groups behind it.
“We are going to channel all of the anger that we have over the organised campaign that led to this assassination, to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks,” said Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, who appeared on a special episode of Kirk’s podcast, which United States Vice President JD Vance hosted.
