Man arrested, released after Charlie Kirk shooting is well-known 'gadfly': district attorney

The Utah man who was arrested in the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk is a well-known "gadfly," according to the Salt Lake County District Attorney.

Following the shooting, the Utah Department of Public Safety said they "initially took in George Zinn as a suspect," before "He was later released and charged with obstruction by UVU police."

Kirk, a conservative activist, was killed Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

"There are no current ties to the shooting" with Zinn or another man who was arrested and released, DPS also said. "There is an ongoing investigation and manhunt for the shooter."

Zinn, 71, has been seen at various political speeches and protests throughout the years, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

In a video of Zinn with officers after the shooting, one uniformed officer is heard saying, “He said he shot him, but I don’t know.”

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says his office has prosecuted Zinn numerous times and that he has a criminal history dating back to the 1980s.

Zinn was often arrested on suspicion of trespassing, Gill said. He was politically conservative, leaning libertarian, and would “give me a hard time for being a Dem,” the district attorney said. Zinn was curious about politics and “almost every political event you can think of, there was always George somewhere in the background, listening.”

“He’s a person who can be odd, and has those kinds of sometimes odd behavior challenges,” Gill said, “but by and large, he’s more of a gadfly than anything else.”

Gill said his office had previously attempted to have Zinn enrolled in mental health court for some of his misdemeanor charges, but “never really participated in that.” Despite Zinn's mental health challenges, Gill said they were “always maintainable” and he was never nonfunctional.

In May, Zinn was arrested on a misdemeanor count of “pedestrian in roadway” by Ogden police.

“George stated he didn’t care if the vehicles waited all day. I told George he needed to wait on the sidewalk, and not in the roadway,” the police officer wrote in a report. “He told me he did not care, and to take him to jail,” which the officer did after “several minutes.”

In January, police in Park City arrested Zinn on suspicion of trespassing. He was banned from the Sundance Film Festival after he reportedly tried to push his way into a Q&A, but returned multiple times and was arrested days later.