Man Who Falsely Claimed Responsibility for Charlie Kirk Murder Now Faces Child Pornography Charges
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Man Who Falsely Claimed Responsibility for Charlie Kirk Murder Now Faces Child Pornography Charges
George Zinn, 71, confessed to police that he shot Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, then admitted he lied to help the real shooter escape. But his interference in the murder investigation wasn't the end of his legal troubles. When FBI agents examined his phone, Zinn confessed to possessing child sexual abuse material and admitted to being sexually aroused by children aged 5 to 12. Crime analyst Angenette Levy examines the disturbing new charges against Zinn, his history as a political gadfly with multiple arrests, and how his false confession may have helped the real suspect, Tyler Robinson, evade capture in the critical moments after Kirk's assassination on campus.
The False Confession That Disrupted a Murder Investigation
71-year-old George Zinn stands on video telling police officers that he was the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University. It was just moments after the shooting. The scene was chaotic as students ran in fear after hearing a gunshot and seeing Charlie Kirk bleeding from the neck. Kirk's staff grabbed him and rushed him to an SUV in the hope of saving his life, but it was simply too much and too late.
Newly released documents shed light on how the initial apprehension of the first suspect impeded the Kirk shooting investigation. A detective named Dudson was on duty working the event when he heard a single gunshot at about 12:20 p.m. As he makes his way through the crowd, an elderly man approaches him screaming, "I shot him, now shoot me." That man was 71-year-old George Zinn, and he tells officers he's the shooter. But when asked about the location of the firearm, Zinn reportedly said, "I'm not going to tell you."
Police escorted Zinn to a patrol car at the back of the venue. Witness video recorded the detention and has been circulating on social media. Zinn was transported to the Utah Valley University Police Department for questioning. Before Detective Dudson could advise him of his rights, George Zinn asked for a lawyer, so they couldn't conduct an official interrogation.
Zinn Admits He Wanted to Help the Real Shooter Escape
The affidavit goes on to state: "At that point, I advised George I did not think he was the one who did the shooting. But since he told me he wanted an attorney, I could not talk to him. At that point, he advised I am already going to be in trouble for saying I shot him, even if I did not. I did not ask him any more questions at that point. George stated on his own that he did not shoot the individual. He stated he did it to draw attention from the real shooter."
Zinn's arrest went viral on social media with mixed reactions about whether or not he was actually the shooter. Some witnesses who knew Zinn expressed doubt that he was capable of the precision shot that killed Kirk.
Zinn was taken to a nearby hospital for an undisclosed medical condition. At the initial press conference, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bo Mason announced Zinn's arrest and subsequent release, asking the public to be patient with the investigative process and not to harass persons of interest who were not suspects.
But newly released documents reveal that while Zinn was at the hospital, he admitted to the FBI that "he was glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away." The affidavit provides more information on the comments that Zinn made during the transport. During this time, George made statements to the officer that he was glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away. He also stated to officers that he wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot.
FBI investigators and Utah State investigators conducted an interview with Zinn where he openly admitted that he was not the shooter. In Utah, that's a crime. Authorities had enough to book Zinn immediately into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of obstruction of justice after he was cleared from the hospital.
Shocking Discovery: Child Sexual Abuse Material on Zinn's Phone
Toward the end of the questioning, agents asked Zinn if they could look through his phone and whether or not there would be anything illegal on it. What Zinn said next sparked a whole different investigation. The man sitting in the hospital bed confessed to using his phone to look at child sex abuse material, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The agents sat with Zinn and looked through his phone contents. The affidavit states: "The photos folder contained images of prepubescent female children around the age of 5 years old. The children were dressed in underwear. George told investigators that he was sexually aroused by children ranging in age from 5 to 12 years old. I observed many images of young female children posed in different positions, often referred to as child erotica. One definition of child erotica is non-pornographic material relating to children that is used by individuals for sexual purposes or gratification. The images almost always depict children posed in swimsuits, underwear, or compromising positions."
There were more than 20 images of child erotica content on Zinn's cell phone in the images section. These images were copied and reused more than 50 times in separate conversations with different contacts and phone numbers. Zinn was sending these images in over five conversations, claiming they were his daughters, asking people to perform sex acts to them, and telling contacts he performed sex acts to them.
Investigators seized Zinn's phone and Utah County forensic examiners downloaded it forensically to further review and investigate. George Zinn was released from the Utah Valley Hospital and taken into custody. As of now, there is nothing suggesting that George Zinn and the real alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, are connected in any way.
Zinn's History as a Political Gadfly
This isn't Zinn's first encounter with law enforcement. He's well known by Utah police as a political gadfly who likes to hang around political events. There's no question as to why Zinn was at the first stop of Charlie Kirk's American Comeback Tour at UVU that day.
According to court records, Zinn has been arrested and charged numerous times over the past 20 years in Utah with misdemeanor crimes. Most notably, he was involved in an incident related to the Salt Lake City Marathon, where the then 59-year-old sent an email to the marketing director of the marathon asking, "I was wondering if you needed anybody to help place bombs near the finish line on Saturday." This was the same week as the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured 170. Staff took these allegations very seriously. Luckily, nothing happened at the event, but the email was reported and Zinn faced a second-degree felony charge of threat of terrorism.
In 2019, Zinn was also one of eight people arrested at a Utah Inland Port Authority board meeting. Zinn and other protesters became rowdy, pushing and shoving. According to the arrest report, Zinn became angry and pushed some of the protesters because he thought they were blocking a Utah Transit Authority bus. For that incident, Zinn faced charges of disorderly conduct and failure to disperse.
Legal Expert Weighs In on the Charges
Trial attorney Rich Shoenstein discussed the case, expressing his disbelief at Zinn's actions: "As horrible as this underlying crime is, the shooting itself which is obviously a terrible crime, the idea that some bystander in the crowd would interfere with police, not just to investigate a crime, but to keep a crowd of college students and other people safe, it's unfathomable to me that somebody would do that."
Shoenstein emphasized the danger Zinn created: "If you're interfering with law enforcement in a situation like that, you are really putting people at risk. And not just the people you don't like, your friends and neighbors, your fellow citizens, you are putting at risk. At that moment, people didn't know exactly who was doing the shooting. You didn't know how many there were. You didn't know if there was going to be more shooting. You didn't know who the targets were."
Regarding the child pornography charges, Shoenstein noted: "This does deserve to be probed by law enforcement and if it leads to ferreting out some misconduct, I'm all for it. I think all of that is horrible wherever you are in that supply chain. I think basically you are somewhat responsible for what is happening to the minors that are the subject of that kind of stuff."
Potential Connection to Tyler Robinson Investigation
Zinn's name came up in text messages between Tyler Robinson and Robinson's roommate. The sheriff put out a press release saying there is no evidence that George Zinn is connected to Tyler Robinson in any way or connected to this assassination. However, in the text exchange between Tyler Robinson and his partner, the partner mentions that someone was in custody, and Tyler responds that it was just some old guy, but confirms it was him who committed the shooting.
Zinn's false confession did work to some degree because when the story was first unfolding, people thought authorities had captured the shooter very quickly. This potentially dampened the police response in those first minutes because they thought they had a suspect in custody. Shoenstein pointed out: "This individual could have contributed to an actual suspect getting away. It could have had dire consequences."
Authorities are investigating whether Tyler Robinson had help or encouragement. He was on a group chat on Discord with more than 20 people, according to the FBI director, and they are running down all of those people. Robinson's mother told police that over the last year or so, he had been leaning more politically to the left and becoming more pro-gay rights and pro-trans rights. While having those political views doesn't mean someone will commit violence, something happened over the last year that changed Tyler Robinson.
Ongoing Investigation and Potential Charges
Shoenstein explained the scope of the investigation into Zinn's phone: "There's a branch to where did he get the pornography if it's on his phone. Who distributed it? Who made it? There's a branch to is he involved with trafficking or attempting to traffic minors for sex. So there's a branch there. There could be other people involved in that. And law enforcement's going to go down every branch. Because of what else he did, law enforcement is going to try to accuse him of everything they possibly can. They're going to go after this guy fully and they're going to investigate. They're going to climb down every single branch of this tree and find whatever else they find."
If the investigation leads to uncovering a child pornography or trafficking ring, it could be some good that comes out of this horrible situation. Zinn is being held without bail as the investigation continues. At this time, investigators say they have not found a connection between him and the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk, Tyler Robinson.
Tyler Robinson remains held without bail on an aggravated murder charge and other charges, and prosecutors say they are pursuing the death penalty against him.
