“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody,” the U.S. president said on Fox News Friday morning.
Donald Trump appeared on the daily talk show Fox & Friends and was asked if there had been any developments in the assassination of Conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. Although Trump didn’t reveal any details he said someone very close to the suspect is said to have turned him in. That person went to the suspect’s father, who is said to have approached a U.S. Marshal.
The suspect is aged 28 or 29 years old, Trump said.
🚨 BREAKING@POTUS: “I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody.” pic.twitter.com/v7UX15Uibn
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 12, 2025
Trump said the information was made available to him five minutes before he was set to appear on the Fox News show. He said he hopes the killer gets death penalty. “Kirk was the finest person and he didn’t deserve this,” the U.S. president said, adding that Kirk was like a son to him.
The investigators released a
series of photos and video of the suspect
they believed assassinated the 31-year-old Trump ally as he spoke to students gathered in the courtyard of the Utah Valley University in Orem.
“We cannot do our job without the public’s help right now,” Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox said during a press conference on Thursday. “The public has answered our call for action.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has received over 7,000 tips and leads, Cox said.
The FBI continues to work alongside our law enforcement partners to seek justice in the murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. We are releasing additional photos of a person of interest. Information about this developing investigation can be found… pic.twitter.com/woZacCxYgE
— FBI Salt Lake City (@FBISaltLakeCity) September 12, 2025
The 31-year-old activist was killed by a single shot on Wednesday in a “targeted attack” that the governor of Utah called a political assassination. The suspected gunman fired from the rooftop, investigators said.
Kirk was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit political organization. At the time of the fatal incident, he was speaking at a debate at Utah Valley University. He was shot in broad daylight on the university campus and pronounced dead at a hospital a few hours later.
Kirk’s casket aboard Air Force Two arrived in Phoenix Thursday night. Vice president JD Vance helped carry the casket alongside other uniformed service personnel. Vance’s wife Usha stepped off the plane holding the hand of Kirk’s widow Erika.
Vance on social media talked about his friendship with Kirk that began in 2017 when Kirk sent a message to Vance on X after his appearance on Tucker Carlson show. He “told me I did a great job … and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today,”
on Wednesday.
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