George Zinn, a 71-year-old Utah political activist, admitted to police that he falsely claimed responsibility for the shooting of Charlie Kirk in an attempt to help the real suspect escape.
Zinn was detained moments after Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck at Utah Valley University last week.
Police initially suspected him of being the shooter, but later determined that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was the alleged gunman.
Zinn confessed to misleading authorities after repeatedly requesting access to his attorney, according to police documents.
He allegedly admitted he wanted to distract law enforcement to allow Robinson time to get away.
Authorities said Zinn was later taken to a hospital for treatment of a pre-existing medical condition.
While there, he reportedly made another admission, stating that he “wanted to be a martyr for the person who was shot.”
Following his hospital release, Zinn was booked into the Utah County Jail.
A judge ordered him held without bail on Monday.
He now faces a second-degree felony obstruction of justice charge, with police stating his actions diverted resources away from finding the actual shooter.
Court records show that Zinn has a history of arrests, most of them for trespassing.
As recently as August 22, he was charged with trespassing.
Officials clarified that Zinn was not the shooter soon after initially announcing that a suspect was in custody.
Video from the scene circulated widely on social media, showing witnesses yelling insults at Zinn as he was detained.
One person called him a “monster,” while others shouted, “How dare you?”
Additional footage captured Zinn shouting back, demanding officers “shoot me.”
A responding officer was overheard saying, “He said he shot him, but I don’t know,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
After police confirmed Zinn was not responsible for Kirk’s death, Utah residents recognized him as a longtime political activist frequently seen at protests and demonstrations.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told the Tribune his office had prosecuted Zinn many times since the 1980s.
Gill said most cases involved trespassing and described Zinn as a libertarian conservative who often criticized him for being a Democrat.
He noted that Zinn was a regular presence at political events across the state, saying, “At almost every political event you can think of, there was always George somewhere in the background, listening.”
Gill characterized Zinn as “a gadfly” who sometimes displayed unusual behavior.
He added that prosecutors once attempted to involve Zinn in mental health court for misdemeanor charges, but Zinn “never really participated in that.”
The Daily Mail reported that Zinn’s most serious case occurred in 2013, when he was charged with threatening to plant bombs at the Salt Lake City Marathon.
He entered a plea deal that initially resulted in probation, but he later served a year in jail after violating probation terms.
In a police report from that incident, an officer wrote that Zinn was uncooperative and said, “I don’t care, take me to jail.”
He was also arrested in January of this year for trespassing at the Sundance Film Festival, from which he had been banned.
Over the years, Zinn appeared at numerous high-profile political gatherings. In 1988, Zinn traveled to the Republican National Convention in New Orleans, where he reportedly stayed in a cot in the hotel room of former Education Secretary T.H. Bell after arriving without lodging.
