Man Lied About Shooting Charlie Kirk To ‘Draw Attention’ From Real Assassin: Police

Police said the 71-year-old man initially detained after Charlie Kirk’s assassination admitted he falsely claimed responsibility in an effort to draw attention away from the real shooter.

Right after Kirk was fatally shot at Utah Valley University, George Zinn told police he was the gunman and demanded they shoot him, according to court documents. Investigators later determined that Zinn did not shoot Kirk, but charged him with second-degree obstruction of justice. 

In an affidavit filed on Monday, a police officer said that Zinn approached police and yelled, “I shot him, now shoot me,” after the Kirk shooting, according to Fox 13 Salt Lake City. “I then started to escort George to a patrol car that was at the back of the venue. He continued to state that he shot the individual and to just shoot him,” a police officer said.

Zinn later admitted he made the false confession “to draw attention from the real shooter” and said he “wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot,” according to the affidavit.

Once at the police station, Zinn said that he wanted a lawyer, and the police told him that they did not believe that he shot Kirk, KUTV reported. 

“At that point he advised I am already going to be in trouble for saying I shot him. Even if I did not,” the officer wrote. “I did not ask him any more questions at that point.”

After being booked at the police station, Zinn was hospitalized for an undisclosed medical issue. 

Zinn is known in the Salt Lake City area for disrupting political events and has a criminal history dating back to the 1980s, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. In 2013, Zinn was charged with threatening to place bombs at the finish line of the Salt Lake City marathon. Zinn agreed to a plea deal in that case and was sentenced to probation. However, after he failed to meet the conditions, he was ordered to spend a year in jail, with credit for time served, according to the Tribune. Zinn was arrested again in 2019 after a protest in downtown Salt Lake City turned violent.

The man whom police believe actually shot Kirk is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and is set to make his first court appearance on Tuesday.