The manhunt for the shooter who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk ended Friday with a suspect taken into custody, authorities said.
Utah’s Department of Public Safety and the FBI confirmed the arrest during a morning briefing, capping a two-day search that began after the 31-year-old podcaster and Turning Point USA cofounder was fatally shot at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday.
Authorities identified the suspect as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington, Utah, after receiving a tip from a friend of Robinson’s family. Officials said the tip came late Thursday night, prompting agents to move quickly to locate and arrest him. A $100,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the shooter was announced Thursday.
President Donald Trump first announced the arrest in a live interview on Fox News, claiming, “With a high degree of certainty, we have him.”
At a press briefing Friday, Utah governor Spencer Cox announced Robinson had been arrested in the early hours of September 12 after a family member reached out to a family friend, who contacted authorities. The friend told investigators that Robinson had hinted at his involvement in the shooting. The tip was relayed through local law enforcement to the FBI and Utah county investigators, who matched Robinson’s gray Dodge Challenger and clothing to campus surveillance footage from the day of the shooting. A family member also told investigators that Robinson spoke critically of Kirk.
Cox said Robinson’s roommate also cooperated, showing investigators Discord messages in which Robinson discussed retrieving and hiding a rifle, leaving it wrapped in a towel, monitoring the drop site, and engraving bullets.
Later on Friday, Discord told NBC News in a statement that the company “identified a Discord account associated with the suspect,” which Discord has now removed. However, the company said the discussion Cox cited did not involve that account.
“The messages referenced in recent reporting about planning details do not appear to be Discord messages,” a Discord spokesperson told NBC News. “These were communications between the suspect’s roommate and a friend after the shooting, where the roommate was recounting the contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere.”
FBI director Kash Patel outlined the bureau’s role in the investigation, stressing the speed of the response and coordination with Utah authorities. He said agents arrived on scene within 16 minutes of the shooting, secured the area alongside local police, and quickly began moving evidence to FBI labs in Quantico for analysis. “The FBI and our partners are proud to stand here today together to bring justice to the family of Charlie Kirk and honor his memory,” he said.
Patel closed his remarks with a brief eulogy for Kirk, saying, “I’ll see you in Valhalla.”
Beyond the Discord account mentioned by Cox, Robinson appears to have had virtually no online footprint that could be immediately identified in public or private databases. Internet users produced images they claimed came from family photo albums posted online, but the accounts of his immediate family members were shut down quickly, and these images couldn’t be verified; none pointed to any obvious motive or ideology.
