A well-known political activist who lied about shooting Charlie Kirk at the event for the conservative star told police he did it to “draw attention away from the real shooter.”
Fox 13 in Utah says that George Zinn, 71, who was a known “gadfly,” was taken away from Utah Valley University in handcuffs after the murder last Wednesday. He told police he was trying to keep them from finding the real killer.
The report says that Zinn went up to the police right after Kirk was killed and yelled, “I shot him, now shoot me.” They arrested him because they said he didn’t have a gun.
Court documents that Fox 13 looked at say that Zinn told police that he did not kill Kirk but wanted to cause a distraction “to draw attention from the real shooter.”
The fake shooter told the police that he “wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot” after being taken to a local hospital for medical reasons, according to court papers.
Police said that his first words made the investigation into Kirk’s death take longer and wasted police time and energy at a very important time in the case.
He is being charged with obstruction of justice, which is a crime of the second degree.
The original person of interest, George Zinn, 71, has allegedly confessed that he pretended to have shot Charlie Kirk to help the real killer escape.
He is being held without bond and charged with felony obstruction. pic.twitter.com/ltgCG5VAjJ
— National Conservative (@NatCon2022) September 16, 2025
After the murder, things were very chaotic at Utah Valley University. Video from that time showed police dragging Zinn away while he yelled, “Shoot me!”
One officer told the crowd, who thought Zinn was the shooter and yelled and cursed at him as he went by, “He said he shot him, but I don’t know.”
People in Zinn’s neighborhood know him as a political “gadfly” who goes to events but is quickly kicked out. He has been arrested for breaking the law at film festivals, protests, and political meetings.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told the Salt Lake Tribune, “George was always there, listening, at almost every political event you can think of.”
Gill, who has prosecuted Zinn several times, said, “He’s a person who can be strange and has those kinds of behavior problems.” “But mostly, he’s just a pest.”
Sources say that Zinn spent a year in jail in 2013 for threatening to bomb the Salt Lake City Marathon.
There are no documents right now that show a link between Zinn and Tyler Robinson.
Authorities have confirmed that Tyler Robinson, the man in jail for killing Charlie Kirk, is being put under “special watch” until he has a mental health evaluation.
Robinson was caught after being on the run for 33 hours.
Tyler’s father talked him into turning himself in. A source in law enforcement told Fox News that he told the FBI that he knew his son from surveillance video that the FBI had shared during the search for him.
Fox News Digital spoke to someone who said that Robinson told his father he was going to kill himself when he got there. According to sources, the father spoke with a preacher that the family knew before giving his son up.
Utah Governor Brian Cox told ABC News on Sunday morning that Robinson was not cooperating with police while he was in jail.
The governor said that Robinson’s family and his boyfriend, who is changing from male to female, are working with the police.
He also said that people who know the 22-year-old say he was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”
Kash Patel, the head of the FBI, talked about the text messages that the suspected killer of Charlie Kirk sent to a close friend.
The killer said in the messages that he had a chance to “take out Charlie Kirk” and that he was “going to do it.”
Patel also said that DNA found on a screwdriver left on the roof of Utah Valley University and a towel wrapped around the weapon found near the Kirk attack site matched Robinson’s.