OREM, Utah — The man who originally claimed to have shot Charlie Kirk in the moments after the September incident on the Utah Valley University campus was sentenced Thursday for obstruction of justice, along with charges related to the sexual exploitation of a minor.
George Zinn pleaded no-contest to a third-degree felony charge of obstruction of justice, and pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Zinn will spend up to 15 years in prison for the crimes, with the sentences to be served concurrently.
In the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 10 shooting of Kirk, Zinn was seen being led away from the scene in handcuffs, sparking confusion about whether or not the shooter had been taken into custody. It was not until an hour after the shooting that police identified Zinn, saying he had been arrested for Obstruction of Justice, but not the actual shooting.
Police claimed Zinn's actions were an effort to conceal the real identity of the shooter.
According to police, immediately after the shooting, Zinn approached an officer and yelled, "I shot him, now shoot me." Even after the officer saw both of Zinn's hands and did not spot a weapon, Zinn again yelled, "I shot him, now shoot me," leading to his arrest.
When Zinn was asked where his weapon was, he allegedly said he wouldn't say. The officer did a quick search and pat down of Zinn, and was still unable to locate a weapon.
Once at the police department, Zinn allegedly asked for an attorney and changed his story to say that he didn't, in fact, shoot Kirk and had only claimed to have done so to "draw attention" from the actual shooter. He was later transported to the hospital due to a medical condition and made similar comments.
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While at the hospital, Zinn agreed to speak with investigators who requested to look at Zinn's phone. Zinn agreed to let them search the phone, but warned them that he used it to view child sexual abuse material.
Those agents found the images that Zinn referred to and asked the Utah County Special Victims Unit to take over the matter.
Nearly 48 hours after the shooting, Tyler Robinson was arrested in connection with the shooting. Prosecutors in that case are expected to lay out their case at a preliminary hearing scheduled to begin on May 18.
