- George Zinn, 71, was sentenced to prison on Thursday for obstruction of justice after falsely claiming he shot Charlie Kirk.
- Zinn's false confession diverted police resources during the Utah Valley University shooting investigation.
- He also received a prison sentence for possessing child sexual abuse material.
PROVO — A man who claimed he was the shooter right after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University was sentenced to prison on Thursday.
George Zinn, 71, was charged shortly after the shooting death with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony. He admitted Thursday that on Sept. 10, 2025, he intended to hinder or delay the investigation by preventing others from conducting it and by providing false information.
He pleaded no contest to a reduced obstruction charge, a third-degree felony, as part of a plea deal and 4th District Judge Thomas Low sentenced him to a term of zero to five years in prison.
Kirk, a conservative political activist and Turning Point USA co-founder, was killed during a Turning Point USA event at the school. Zinn's plea statement said he approached a detective at the event after the shot was fired and said, "I shot him, now shoot me."
When asked where the gun was, Zinn refused to say and repeated his request for the officer to shoot him. The detective then placed Zinn into handcuffs, while multiple people around him made threats against him.
Investigators determined that Zinn did not shoot Kirk, but his statements diverted the attention of multiple officers who could have otherwise worked to secure the scene and find the actual shooter.
Video of the officer taking Zinn into custody spread quickly online, causing many to believe that the shooter had been arrested.
After being taken to a hospital for chest pain, Zinn told an officer that day that "he was glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away," according to a police booking affidavit, adding that he "wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot."
While officers were conducting an investigation, they asked to look at his phone, and Zinn admitted that the phone contained child pornography, according to police.
Zinn was charged in a separate case with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, after police reported finding explicit images on his phone after his initial arrest. He pleaded guilty to two of those counts as part of the plea deal and was sentenced to two terms of one to 15 years in prison. The judge ordered all three prison terms to be served concurrent.
Part of the plea deal also included the dismissal of a separate charge filed in January 2025 for theft, a class B misdemeanor.
Zinn has been arrested and charged numerous times over the past 30 years, primarily for trespassing in political spaces, according to state court records. He also made headlines in 2013 after he was charged with making a threat of terrorism after sending an email asking if Salt Lake City Marathon organizers "needed anybody to help place bombs near the finish line."
Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with capital murder and accused of shooting and killing Kirk.
