The older man arrested and carried away from the scene where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot last week is being held at the Utah County jail under suspicion of obstruction of justice and possession of child sex abuse material.
George Zinn, 71, was in the crowd at Kirk’s Utah Valley University event Wednesday and reportedly told officers in the moments after the shooting that he had fired the gun.
Authorities took Zinn into custody, but Zinn was uncooperative with investigators and “began to have a medical issue,”’ so he was then taken to a hospital, according to a news release from the Utah Department of Public Safety.
While at the hospital, Zinn told agents from the FBI and the Utah State Bureau of Investigation that he was not the shooter, but yelled that he was “to allow the actual suspect to flee,” according to the news release. Zinn also let investigators look at his phone, and he told the agents that he uses the device to view child sex abuse material, the release states.
Investigators ultimately found over 20 images on Zinn’s phone, according to the news release.
Zinn had also shared the images with other individuals, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Zinn was released from the hospital Monday and was then taken to the Utah County jail, where he is currently being held under suspicion of felony obstruction of justice and four counts of felony sexual exploitation of a minor, according to arrest documents. He has not been formally charged.
There is no information that Zinn “actually colluded with the shooter” at this time, investigators said.
Video of Zinn’s arrest spread quickly on social media after Kirk was shot. Many, both in person and online, assumed he was the shooter.
“How dare you?” one spectator shouted repeatedly.
Near the end of the video, one uniformed officer can be heard saying, “He said he shot him, but I don’t know.”
Zinn has been a Utah “gadfly” — regularly attending protests, Republican political functions and film screenings. He has been arrested multiple times, typically on suspicion of misdemeanors, often trespassing.
In 2013, he was charged in connection with threatening to place bombs at the Salt Lake City Marathon finish line. Zinn took a plea deal and received a sentence of probation, but was ultimately ordered to jail for one year, with credit for time served, after not meeting the conditions of his probation.