A known political activist who falsely claimed that he shot Charlie Kirk while at the event for the conservative star told police that he was doing it to “draw attention away from the real shooter.”
According to Fox 13 in Utah, 71-year-old George Zinn, who was a known “gadfly” and was led away from Utah Valley University in handcuffs after the murder last Wednesday, told police he was trying to distract them from the real killer.
Now, Zinn has been hit with additional charges of possessing child sexual abuse materials on his phone.
In a separate report, local sheriff’s deputies said he wouldn’t let detectives look at his phone because he used it “to look at child sexual abuse material.”
Authorities say that a search of Zinn’s phone proved that it had more than 20 pictures of sexual abuse of children, including pictures of kids who were probably between 5 and 12 years old.
Investigators also found more explicit texts in which he shared the information with other people. In the end, Zinn was arrested on charges of obstructing justice related to the events that followed Kirk’s death and sexual exploitation of children because of what was found on his phone.
According to the report, Zinn went up to the police right after Kirk was killed and yelled, “I shot him, now shoot me.” Police said he wasn’t carrying a gun and arrested him.
During a police interview, Zinn admitted he did not kill Kirk but said he wanted to cause a distraction “to draw attention from the real shooter,” according to court documents reviewed by Fox 13.
According to court papers, the fake shooter said he “wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot” after being taken to a local hospital for medical reasons.
Police said that his first words slowed down the investigation into Kirk’s death and wasted police time and energy at a crucial point in the case.
He is charged with obstruction of justice, which is a second-degree felony.
There was a lot of chaos at Utah Valley University after the murder, and video from that time showed Zinn being dragged away by police while he screamed, “Shoot me!”
“He said he shot him, but I don’t know,” one officer told the crowd, which was under the impression that Zinn was the shooter and yelled and swore at him as he went by.
Zinn is known in his community as a political “gadfly” who often shows up at events but is quickly thrown out. He has been arrested for trespassing at film festivals, protests, and political meetings.
“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,” said Gill, who has prosecuted Zinn several times. “But by and large, he’s more of a gadfly than anything else.”
According to sources, Zinn spent a year in jail in 2013 for making threats to bomb the Salt Lake City Marathon.
Tyler Robinson, who is accused of killing Charlie Kirk, appeared virtually for his first court date on Tuesday since he was officially charged with seven counts.
Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray informed the court that they will seek the death penalty against Robinson.
Police and video taken at the scene show that Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, was answering questions in UVU’s crowded plaza when he was shot from a rooftop about 200 yards away.
But police said he had become more radicalized over the past year, after dating a biological male roommate who is transitioning to female. They based this conclusion on conversations with his mother.