In the moments after Charlie Kirk was killed, a 71-year-old man yelled to police officers that he was the shooter, but he later explained that he had falsely confessed in order to help the real assassin escape, the police said.
The man, a political gadfly named George Zinn, was arrested on suspicion of obstruction of justice, a felony, with the police saying that he had delayed investigators’ hunt for the actual perpetrator.
Mr. Zinn was one of two people that the police had detained for questioning on Wednesday after Mr. Kirk was killed. They later determined that neither were involved in the killing, and on Thursday, they arrested a 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, on suspicion of murder.
Mr. Zinn’s detention at the scene of the crime may well have been consequential. Michael Dutson, a police officer at Utah Valley University, where the shooting took place, wrote in an affidavit that Mr. Zinn had approached him moments after the shooting — as thousands students were running for cover — and said, “I shot him; now shoot me.”
Officer Dutson said that he handcuffed Mr. Zinn and asked him where the gun was, but Mr. Zinn said he was not going to tell him. After taking him to the university police station, Officer Dutson told Mr. Zinn that he did not think he was the shooter, and Mr. Zinn said he was going to be in trouble either way and that he would like a lawyer.
Mr. Zinn “stated he did it to draw attention from the real shooter,” the officer wrote in the affidavit, and later said that he was glad he had falsely confessed “so the real suspect could get away.”
Videos on social media posts at the time showed police escorting Mr. Zinn away from the scene, his pants around his knees, as students screamed at him, assuming he was the assailant. The university’s police chief said that there were about 3,000 people at the event and only six university police officers monitoring the event, in addition to Mr. Kirk’s own security team.
On Monday, a judge ordered that Mr. Zinn be held without bail, finding that he was a “substantial danger” to the community. It was not clear from court records if Mr. Zinn had a lawyer, and a lawyer who previously represented him did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Mr. Zinn is well known among organizers of public events in Salt Lake City. He showed up frequently to public forums, often looking disheveled, with the intention to disrupt the event or question a high-profile speaker. He also has a long history of minor crimes, including an arrest in 2013 for sending a threatening email to the hosts of the Salt Lake City Marathon just days after the Boston Marathon bombing.
Julie Bosman contributed reporting.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice. He is from upstate New York.
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