Man arrested for allegedly faking confession to Charlie Kirk's killing [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Tue 16 Sep 2025 17.44 EDT
First published on Tue 16 Sep 2025 11.43 EDT


A man who was detained moments after Turning Point USA executive director Charlie Kirk’s killing has been arrested on allegations of trying to thwart authorities by falsely confessing to the fatal shooting.

After being arrested on Monday, 71-year-old George Zinn faces a count of obstructing justice – a second-degree felony – in the wake of Kirk’s killing at Utah Valley University (UVU). He was also booked in connection with images on his cellphone depicting child abuse, said state authorities, who took Zinn into custody after he was released from a hospital that was treating him for a medical condition.

Documents filed in Zinn’s case by UVU campus police allege that he began screaming, “I shot him – now shoot me,” in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s killing at Utah Valley University (UVU) on 10 September. Video of officers holding Zinn down was widely circulated online, leading some to believe that authorities had quickly arrested a suspect in the killing of the conservative political activist.

Then, when asked by an officer where the gun used to kill Kirk was, Zinn allegedly replied: “I am not going to tell you.” Police contend that Zinn subsequently admitted that he was not the shooter and did not know who was – and he purportedly claimed that he had acted how he did to draw attention away from the real killer in hopes of becoming “a martyr” for Kirk. Zinn was brought to a hospital after experiencing an unspecified medical episode and told officers he was “glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away”, according to police documents as well as a statement from authorities.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/16/false-confession-charlie-kirk-shooting