The elderly man who was the initial person of interest detained in the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was arrested on child porn charges, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a news release obtained by the New York Post on Tuesday (September 16).
George Zinn, 71, was charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after more than 20 images of children, including some as young as 5 years old, at least partially naked and “posing” in a “sexual” way were found on his phone Monday (September 15).
“Zinn admitted … that he gets sexual gratification from viewing and sharing [child sexual abuse material] images with others, and that his preferred victim age is 5 to 12 years old,” the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said.
Zinn, who was described as a political “gadfly,” is also facing a charge of obstruction of justice after allegedly falsely admitting to shooting Kirk, 31, during the incident on Utah Valley University last Wednesday (September 10). The 71-year-old was the first person detained in relation to Kirk’s shooting, which led to his child porn charges.
Zinn allegedly refused to cooperate and was soon taken to a hospital for a medical problem, at which point he confessed to not actually being the shooter and investigators successfully requested looking at his phone. The elderly man admitted to state and federal agents that he uses his phone to view inappropriate images of children, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Those Agents did see several images on the phone of prepubescent girls scantily dressed,” the agency said.
The suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, was announced to have been in custody and publicly identified by police last Friday (September 12). Kirk founded Turning Point USA at the age of 18 along with tea party activist William Montgomery in 2012.
The political pundit gained notoriety debating liberal students, winning over conservative financiers. Kirk enthusiastically supported President Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and served as a personal aide to his son, Donald Trump Jr., during the campaign, while also gaining a regular presence on cable news.
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