Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer is “not co-operating” with authorities and has not confessed to carrying out the shooting, Utah’s governor Spencer Cox has told US media.
Suspect Tyler Robinson, 22, was taken into custody some 33 hours after Kirk, a 31-year-old right-wing activist, was shot dead in Orem on Wednesday.
Speaking to ABC News, Cox, a Republican, said people around Mr Robinson had been co-operating with the investigation.
Cox appeared on various US news outlets on Sunday morning, where he also reiterated concerns regarding social media in the aftermath of Kirk’s death.
The governor was also asked about a New York Times report alleging Mr Robinson had spoken to others after the shooting via the Discord messaging platform, including allegations that he joked about being the gunman.
Cox told ABC News: “All we can confirm is that those conversations definitely were happening, and they did not believe it was actually him.
“It was, it was all joking until, until he, you know, until he admitted that it actually was him.”
Mr Robinson was arrested on Thursday night after surrendering to police.
Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University at an open-air event held by Turning Point USA – the organisation he co-founded – when he was shot and killed.
The event was part of the American Comeback Tour, which was a speaking engagement that took him to several college campuses throughout the US.
Cox previously told the Wall Street Journal that Mr Robinson, a Utah native, was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology”.
When questioned on it during CNN’s State of the Union programme on Sunday, he said the information was offered by the suspect’s friends and family.
“There’s so much more that we’re learning and so much that we will learn,” he explained, adding that when official charges are filed, there will be “much more evidence and information available then”.
