By Betsy Klein, Evan Perez, Holmes Lybrand, Hannah Rabinowitz, Donald Judd, Lauren Chadwick

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has said that a suspect is in custody related to the killing of Charlie Kirk. The suspect was later identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington, Utah.

“I think with a high degree of certainty we have him in custody,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.”

It comes two days after Kirk, a conservative political activist and ally of the president’s, died after being shot at an event at Utah Valley University.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox identified the suspect in custody as Robinson at a press conference later on Friday, adding “we got him” and providing details about how he was found.

“On the evening of September 11, a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” Cox said during a news conference on Friday.

He was taken into custody at 10pm local time Thursday in Utah, FBI Director Kash Patel said, adding that the manhunt lasted 33 hours.

CNN reported earlier that according to four sources familiar with the matter, a person was in custody Friday and being questioned in connection to the fatal shooting. Two of the sources said that the man confessed to his father that he was the shooter. His father told authorities and said he had secured his son until he could be formally detained.

It came after a back-and-forth search for a suspect in which authorities questioned and released two people Wednesday in connection with the killing.

The manhunt then continued, and the FBI released images of a person of interest in the fatal shooting, asking the public for tips to help finding him.

The shooter is believed to have fired once from a nearby roof in a “targeted attack,” according to the Utah Department of Public Safety, which is leading the investigation along with the FBI.

Asked about what will happen to the suspect, Trump said he hoped the person would be found guilty.

Later in the Fox News interview, Trump added that Utah Gov. Cox has signaled he’d seek the death penalty for Kirk’s shooter.

“In Utah, they have the death penalty, and you have a very good governor there,” Trump said. “The governor, I’ve gotten to know him, the governor is very intent on the death penalty in this case.”

Pressed if Kirk’s shooting was a “one-off,” isolated case, Trump said it “appears to be.”

The president also said he hadn’t watched video of Kirk’s death after several clips of Kirk’s shooting on the Utah Valley University campus were posted on social media.

“I didn’t want to watch, I heard about it,” Trump said. “I would have never made a good doctor, let me put it that way. I mean, I heard, I heard enough – I didn’t want to watch it, I didn’t want to I didn’t want to remember Charlie that way.”

The-CNN-Wire
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