A 71-year-old man was arrested last week for obstruction of justice after falsely claiming to be the shooter in the fatal assault on conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, police say.
Newly released police documents reviewed by FOX 13 News detail the circumstances leading to George Zinn’s arrest, showing that in the chaotic moments after the gunshot on Utah Valley University’s campus, Zinn initially claimed he was the shooter.
Police say that in the aftermath of the shooting, George Zinn approached an officer and shouted, “I shot him, now shoot me.” Although the officer saw both of Zinn’s hands and found no weapon, Zinn repeated the claim, prompting officers to take him into custody.
When asked by officers where his weapon was, George Zinn allegedly refused to answer. A pat-down search turned up nothing, yet as he was being handcuffed and escorted to a patrol car, Zinn again insisted he was the shooter and urged the officer to “just shoot him.”
At the police station, Zinn requested an attorney before admitting he had not shot Charlie Kirk and claimed his false statements were meant to “draw attention from the real shooter.” During a later hospital transport for a medical issue, he repeated similar comments, saying he wanted to be a “martyr for the person who was shot.”
Police said Zinn’s claims diverted attention and delayed the investigation into Kirk’s assassination, consuming resources at a critical time, according to the outlet.
Nearly two days after the shooting, police arrested Tyler Robinson in connection with the case. As of Monday, investigators have not indicated that Zinn knew Robinson or had any knowledge of the plan to target Kirk.
Zinn was booked into the Utah County Jail on a second-degree felony charge of obstruction of justice.
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