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Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of child abuse that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you suspect a child is being abused, find out how to report it in your state here. To connect with a counselor, you can call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4253.
() George Zinn, the man who claimed to have shot Charlie Kirk when he did not, has been charged with possession of child sexual abuse material.
According to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, Zinn, 71, has also been charged with obstruction of justice for saying he was the one who shot and killed Kirk. While in police custody, he experienced a medical emergency and was taken to the hospital.
At the hospital, Zinn told authorities in an interview that he, in fact, did not do it, but that he yelled that he was in order to hinder the police’s response and allow for the actual suspect in Kirk’s murder to have time to flee the area.
During that interview, FBI and Utah State Bureau of Investigation agents asked Zinn for his phone so it could be searched, and he agreed. He reportedly told the agents he uses his phone to look at and abuse child sexual abuse material, and that there may be some images of it on there, which agents later found to be true.
On Monday, after the case was handed over to the Utah County Special Victims Unit, detectives said they found over 20 illicit images of children ranging from 5 to 12 years old and several “very graphic sexual text threads” in which Zinn shared the images with other people. Zinn also allegedly admitted that he gets sexual gratification from looking at and sharing the images.
He is currently being held at the Utah County Jail on those charges. The sheriff’s office said there is no information that George Zinn actually worked with the accused shooter, Tyler Robinson.
