The elderly man who was arrested last week at Utah Valley University (UVU) after allegedly falsely confessing to shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk is now facing child pornography charges in addition to obstruction of justice, police said.
George Zinn, 71, was seen on the campus Wednesday yelling at police officers, “I shot him. Now shoot me,” immediately after Kirk was fatally injured by a gunshot wound in front of a crowd.
Due to his statement, many people thought the shooter had been apprehended, but 22-year-old alleged gunman Tyler Robinson was making his escape.
Once Zinn was at the police station, he had a medical issue and was transported to the hospital, where he allegedly explained that he did what he did “to draw attention from the real shooter,” FOX 13 Salt Lake City reported. He was later booked into the Utah County Jail on obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony charge.
As the Salt Lake Tribune noted, “Zinn is known for showing up — and occasionally disrupting or being arrested at — events ranging from political speeches to the Sundance Film Festival to various protests.”
A Utah County Sheriff’s Office (UCSO) press release obtained by journalist Andy Ngo on Tuesday revealed Zinn’s disturbing new charges.
While being interviewed by law enforcement at the hospital, law enforcement agents asked to see his phone. Police said the man “told the Agents that he uses his phone to view and abuse [sic] Child Sex Abuse Material and there may be some images on his phone.”
Agents reviewed Zinn’s phone and reported that they did find images of “prepubescent girls scantily dressed,” then called for the UCSO Special Victims Unit (SVU), officials said.
A search warrant for the phone was executed on Monday, and in a preliminary review SVU officers found more than 20 images of children aged 5 to 12 years old in “various stages of undress and sexual posing,” UCSO explained.
“Graphic” message threads were also found where Zinn allegedly shared such images with other people.
Zinn allegedly “admitted” that he gets “sexual gratification” from viewing and sharing sexual abuse material of children, and stated that his “preferred age” is five to 12 years old.
He has since been hit with four additional second-degree felony charges, all for sexual exploitation of a minor. He remains in the Utah County Jail.
“At this time, there is no information that George Zinn actually colluded with the shooter,” UCSO noted.
Tyler Robinson, of Utah, was later turned in by his family and arrested as the actual suspect in Kirk’s assassination.
The FBI confirmed Monday that Robinson’s DNA matches samples found on a towel that covered the suspected murder weapon hidden in the woods near UVU and on a screwdriver found in the sniper’s position on a UVU rooftop, Breitbart News reported.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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