WASHINGTON — Authorities say a 22-year-old Utah man has been taken into custody in connection with the fatal shooting of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk. 

Tyler Robinson, of Washington, Utah, was arrested late Thursday night, 33 hours after Kirk was shot, FBI Director Kash Patel said. 

“We got him,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said during a Friday morning press conference. 

Robinson was turned in by members of his family and a family friend, who arranged for him to be taken into custody by law enforcement officials, Cox said. 

The governor confirmed that investigators believe Robinson became “more political” in recent years and had highlighted Kirk’s visit to UVU to family members. 

“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” Cox said. “The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”

According to court documents obtained by NBC News, Robinson was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice. 

Officials said Robinson was booked into the Washington County jail Friday, but has not formally been charged yet. 

Arresting charges are initial crimes a person is suspected of doing when being arrested by law enforcement officials. The charges a suspect faces in a courtroom are brought later by district attorneys representing the state or federal government and may differ from the initial charges. 

Officials said they will file formal charges over the weekend and into Monday, because Utah has a three-day period for prosecutors to file a charging indictment, which lays out their case against a suspect. 

Robinson’s father recognized him from images released by authorities and encouraged him to turn himself in, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

He refused at first, but then changed his mind, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

His father reached out for help to a youth pastor, who helped Robinson turn himself in.

President Trump was the first to provide details about the arrest, speaking during a live interview on “Fox and Friends” before law enforcement officials formally announced an arrest or named Robinson as the suspect.  

“We have the person that we think is the person we’re looking for,” Trump said during the morning show interview in New York City.  

The suspect in custody in connection with the assassination of Kirk is a 22-year-old from Utah named Tyler Robinson, authorities said. 

According to investigators, a family member of Robinson said he had become more political in recent years. 

During his remarks on Fox News, the president said a minister — also involved with law enforcement — helped turn the suspect in. 

Tyler James Robinson was admitted to Utah State University on a prestigious academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter posted to a family member’s social media account. A university spokesperson says he attended for only one semester in 2021.

Robinson attended Dixie Technical College in Southern Utah, where he was a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program.

The program trains people to be electricians, lighting technicians or electrical repair specialists.

State officials said he lived with his parents at their home in Washington, Utah. Robinson was registered to vote, but was not affiliated with a political party, although both of his parents are registered Republicans. He was also listed as inactive, meaning he had not voted in at least the last two general elections.

Robinson has two younger brothers and his parents have been married for about 25 years, according to his mother’s social media posts. The family lives in a suburb of the city of St. George in southern Utah. That’s about a 3.5 hour drive south of the Utah Valley University campus where Kirk was shot.

The social media posts indicate his family was active, with photos of vacations to Disneyland, Alaska and St. Kitts and time outdoors spent fishing, zip-lining and target shooting.

Cox said Friday morning that bullets found with the rifle Robinson allegedly used to kill Kirk were engraved with messages. Many of those messages have their roots in popular internet culture and memes. 

Videos posted to social media show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogan “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” 

A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching for his neck with his right hand. Stunned spectators can be heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. 

During a Thursday morning press conference, authorities revealed they have recovered what they believe to be the suspect’s weapon. A high-powered, bolt-action rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the suspected shooter fled, the FBI said. 

Utah authorities said the shooter wore dark clothing and fired from a roof on campus some distance away. 

During the Thursday morning press conference, state and federal officials said they had good video footage of the suspect — who they described as appearing to be college-age and someone who “blended in” with the college population at Utah Valley University, where the fatal shooting took place in an open-air amphitheater. 

Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said they were able to track the suspect’s movement, with the individual arriving on campus around 11:52 a.m., going through stairwells and accessing the distant rooftop where the fatal shot was fired. 

Mason said the suspect jumped off the roof and fled into a neighborhood amid the aftermath. 

Friday, officials said Robinson changed out of the dark outfit seen in the photos released by law enforcement officials, in an effort to avoid detection after the attack. 

He was identified driving to and from the Utah Valley University campus in a gray car that belonged to him. Officials said he drove more than three hours from his home in Washington, Utah to the college campus before making the same trip back after the shooting. 

Utah Valley University officials sent a message to students immediately after the shooting saying a person of interest had been detained. Video footage from the event showed an elderly man being dragged away by police. 

But hours later, officials said they released the man, who has been described as a “political gadfly” according to the Salt Lake Tribune, and charged him with obstructing justice. 

FBI Director Patel said Wednesday evening that another person of interest had been arrested. But again, hours later, that second person was released.