Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot during Turning Points visit to Utah Valley University in Ore
President Donald Trump has said that a suspect is in custody related to the killing of Charlie Kirk.
“I think with a high degree of certainty we have him in custody,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.”
Kirk, a conservative political activist and ally of the president’s, died after being shot at an event at Utah Valley University earlier this week.
According to four sources familiar with the matter, a person is in custody and being questioned in connection to the fatal shooting. The person is still being questioned as of Friday morning, the sources said.
Two of the sources said that the man confessed to his father that he was the shooter. His father told authorities and said he had secured his son until he could be formally detained.
Trump, meanwhile, said that someone “very close to (the suspect) turned him in” and that it would be announced later Friday.
It comes after a back-and-forth search for a suspect in which authorities questioned and released two people Wednesday in connection with the killing.
The manhunt then continued, and the FBI released images of a person of interest in the fatal shooting, asking the public for tips to help finding him.
The shooter is believed to have fired once from a nearby roof in a “targeted attack,” according to the Utah Department of Public Safety, which is leading the investigation along with the FBI.
Asked about what will happen to the suspect, Trump said he hoped the person would be found guilty.
Later in the interview, Trump added that Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has signaled he’d seek the death penalty for Kirk’s shooter.
“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.”
Pressed if Kirk’s shooting was a “one-off,” isolated case, Trump said it “appears to be.”
The president also said he hadn’t watched video of Kirk’s death after several clips of Kirk’s shooting on the Utah Valley University campus were posted on social media.
“I didn’t want to watch, I heard about it,” Trump said. “I would have never made a good doctor, let me put it that way. I mean, I heard, I heard enough – I didn’t want to watch it, I didn’t want to I didn’t want to remember Charlie that way.”
This is a developing story and will be updated. (CNN, excluding headline)
NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.