The older man arrested at Utah Valley University after he allegedly told police he had shot political commentator Charlie Kirk is now facing felony charges related to child sexual exploitation.
George Zinn, 71, was charged Thursday in Utah’s 4th District Court with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
Zinn was arrested Sept. 10, in the moments after Kirk was shot, and video of authorities carrying him from the scene spread rapidly online, with many believing in the immediate chaos that he was the shooter. Ultimately, police said Zinn did not match the description of the shooting suspect.
Zinn was the first of two suspects police detained that day. Police ultimately released the second man.
Tyler James Robinson, 22, turned himself on the night of Sept. 11, some 33 hours after the shooting. He since has been charged with aggravated murder and other felonies in connection with Kirk’s death.
Before that, though, police had Zinn in custody. While questioning him about the shooting, authorities asked if they could look through Zinn’s phone — and if they would find anything illegal on the device, according to charging documents
That’s when Zinn told them that he used his phone to view child sexual abuse material, the document alleges.
After getting a warrant to search Zinn’s phone, investigators found that he had saved such images of children, according to the charges. He would share them in chats with others, claiming the images were pictures of his daughters, the document alleges, adding that he also received similar images from others.
Police also filed a probable cause statement accusing Zinn of obstruction of justice related to his statements after the shooting.
Zinn had allegedly told police, according to that probable cause statement, that, “I shot him, now shoot me.” The same document indicates he told police later that “he was glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away.”
By Friday afternoon, prosecutors had charged Zinn with one count of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, stemming from those allegations, court records show. He remains at the Utah County jail — where Robinson is also being held — without the option to post bail.
Before Kirk’s shooting, Zinn had a reputations as a Utah “gadfly,” a common sight at political events and protests or any gathering that would attract cameras and attention, including the Sundance Film Festival.
While his past criminal offenses were typically misdemeanors, often related to trespassing, Zinn was charged with a second-degree felony count of threat of terrorism in 2013. Zinn had emailed the Salt Lake City Marathon’s marketing directing on April 17 — two days after the Boston Marathon bombing — asking “if you needed anybody to help place bombs near the finish line on Saturday???”
Zinn later told police, according to the charging documents in that case, that he “didn’t mean anything by sending the email.”
That charge was ultimately pleaded down to a misdemeanor, and Zinn served time in jail.