Trump confirms arrest in activist Charlie Kirk shooting, calls for death penalty

US President Donald Trump confirmed that a suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been taken into custody, and said he hopes the individual faces the death penalty.

Speaking on Fox News, Trump stated: "With a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody. Everyone did a great job."

The president noted that a key breakthrough came when a close associate of the suspect alerted authorities. "Essentially, somebody very close to him turned him in," Trump said, adding that the capture would be officially announced later in the day.

Trump also revealed that the suspect’s father played a crucial role in convincing his son to surrender. "I just heard about it five minutes before I walked in," the president remarked.

During the same interview, Trump expressed his desire for the harshest possible punishment: "I hope he gets the death penalty."

The arrest comes just two days after Kirk, a prominent conservative commentator and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during a public event at Utah Valley University. The event, part of Kirk’s “Prove Me Wrong” campus tour, invites students to debate his political and cultural views in an open forum. Witnesses say the shooting occurred shortly after the event began, sending the crowd into chaos.

Authorities released surveillance footage on September 11 showing the suspect climbing down from a rooftop shortly after the shooting. Earlier in the day, law enforcement had circulated images of a "person of interest" and appealed to the public for assistance in identifying him. A law enforcement official confirmed that investigators had obtained “good video footage” of the suspect and had recovered the weapon used in the attack.

Kirk’s body was flown back to his home state of Arizona aboard the plane of Vice President JD Vance, underscoring the high-level attention and deep political resonance the case has drawn.

President Trump paid tribute to Kirk following the news of his death, calling him a “patriot” and a “fearless defender of American values.” Elected officials across the political spectrum swiftly condemned the shooting, denouncing it as an unacceptable act of political violence in an already polarized national climate.

By Vafa Guliyeva