Seconds after conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk was fatally shot in the neck during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, 71-year-old George Zinn lunged at officers, pants sagging to his ankles, screaming, "I shot him, now shoot me!"
The outburst, captured on viral video amid horrified students hurling curses, briefly hijacked the manhunt for Kirk's true killer, authorities say.
Zinn, a notorious local agitator with a rap sheet spanning decades, confessed on the spot but was unarmed.
Dragged away wailing for police to gun him down, he stonewalled queries about the weapon: "I am not going to tell you."
In custody, after invoking his right to counsel, Zinn recanted, admitting, "I had not, in fact, shot Kirk but had made the unfounded claims ‘to draw attention from the real shooter.'"
Hospitalized for a medical issue post-arrest, he doubled down: "I wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot" and was "glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away."
The stunt, detailed in court filings obtained by Fox 13 and KSL, gummed up the investigation at its most frantic hour.
"His initial comments delayed the investigation into Kirk’s killing and needlessly took up law enforcement resources," police affidavits state. Zinn faces a second-degree felony obstruction of justice charge.
A phone search uncovered over 20 child abuse images, some of toddlers as young as 5, plus explicit messages — netting four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. A judge ordered him held without bail Monday.
Zinn's history paints a portrait of eccentricity veering into menace. Dubbed a "gadfly" by prosecutors, the libertarian-leaning provocateur has crashed political rallies, film festivals, and protests, racking up trespassing busts.
“Almost every political event you can think of, there was always George somewhere in the background, listening," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told the Salt Lake Tribune. "He’s a person who can be odd, and has those kinds of sometimes odd behavior challenges. But by and large, he’s more of a gadfly than anything else."
In 2013, days after the Boston Marathon bombing, Zinn menaced Salt Lake City Marathon organizers, asking if he could "help set up bombs at the finish line" —earning a year in prison.
No ties link Zinn to the actual suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a Washington County dropout nabbed September 12 after his father tipped off cops.
Surveillance showed a rooftop sniper firing once before leaping and fleeing; a Mauser bolt-action rifle, wrapped in a towel, lay discarded nearby with a DNA-matched screwdriver.
FBI Director Kash Patel pegged Robinson as "radicalized online" via "leftist" ideology.
Motive remains murky, but family dinners buzzed with anti-Kirk gripes; Discord chats tied him to the hit.
Over 7,000 public tips flood the FBI, which recovered palm prints, footwear impressions, and the engraved casings.
In fiery Capitol Hill testimony today, Patel clashed with Democrats like Sen. Adam Schiff, blasting interference in the "ongoing criminal investigation."
Patel dropped a bombshell: “Others” face scrutiny in a possible "extended network" that “aided and abetted” Robinson, including probes into his transgender partner and online enablers.
"We are making a traditionally nontransparent agency, the most transparent it has ever been," Patel posted on X. No arrests yet, but the $100,000 reward stands.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox vows swift justice, as vigils swell and Kirk's books rocket Amazon charts.
America, wake up: This isn't random chaos—it's the red tide of leftist venom crashing against truth-tellers like Kirk, who dared expose the rot.
From rooftop cowards to gadfly distractions, the deep state's tentacles writhe, but patriots, steel yourselves. Dismantle the networks, or watch freedom bleed out. Kirk's fire endures; let it forge the reckoning.
Conversation