Alleged Charlie Kirk shooter in custody, identified as 22-year-old Utah man

Utah's regulator said betimes fri that they feature a surmise in custody in connection with the fatal shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk earlier this week.

The suspect was named as Tyler Robinson, 22, a Utah resident. Officials learned Thursday evening about the suspect, through tips from family members and friends.

Gov. Spencer Cox made the announcement surrounded by police and FBI officials. Cox, a Republican, said officials had heard from those close to the suspect that he had grown more political recently and was opposed to Kirk's beliefs.

Kirk's Turning Point USA organization had scheduled two campus events in September in Utah. Kirk, 31, was shot while speaking before a gathering outdoors at Utah Valley University on Wednesday in Orem, Utah.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the "full weight of the federal government" was brought to bear since the shooting, in addition to the work of local police and images and video shared through the media. 

Information on an arrest or charges was not immediately forthcoming, but Cox said it was believed the suspect acted alone.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier suggested an arrest had been made, in a Fox News interview, saying he learned of the development just before arriving on set.

"As I understand it, and again, subject to change, but the facts are the facts, we have the person that we think is the person we were looking for," Trump told the hosts of morning show Fox and Friends.

FBI releases CCTV video showing suspect in Charlie Kirk killing

Kirk was a supporter of Trump's dating back to the Republican's first presidential campaign in 2016. Trump, in turn, has expressed admiration for the 31-year-old influencer.

"In many ways, he's bigger now," said Trump.

Kirk was killed by a single shot Wednesday in what police said was a targeted attack. Authorities recovered a high-powered, bolt-action rifle near the scene and had said the shooter jumped off a roof and vanished into the woods after the shooting.

The attack, carried out in broad daylight as Kirk spoke about U.S. Gun violence, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.

Investigators said they believe the suspect blended into the campus crowd because of a college-age appearance.

Kirk requested an open-air courtyard for the event, sources told the Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, Utah. About 15 security officers were on duty, divided between university and Turning Point staff, the newspaper reported.

Trump has said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the U.S. He also plans to attend his funeral.

Vice- President JD Vance on Thursday helped carry Kirk's casket, which was aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona, where Kirk resided.

Kirk was a conservative provocateur who became a powerful political force among young Republicans and was a fixture on college campuses, where he invited sometimes vehement debate on social issues.

The shooting continued to draw swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials joined Trump and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the attack, which unfolded during a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties.

But Trump on Friday seemed to dismiss that narrative, when asked by Fox's Ainsley Earhardt — who suggested there were radicals on both extremes of the political spectrum — what could be done to "fix this country."

"I'll tell you something that's gonna get me in trouble but I couldn't care less," said Trump. "The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don't want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem."

Trump bemoaned the fact that any prosecution for a shooting suspect will likely take years, based on past precedent, to wind its way through the courts. The president said he hoped the suspect would face the death penalty. 

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