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 local 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 allowed the investigators to 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 on 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.
Read more at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.