Man claimed to shoot Kirk to ‘draw attention’ from real gunman

A Utah man who falsely confessed to shooting Charlie Kirk during last week’s campus attack was also arrested on charges of possessing child sexual abuse materials after telling police he wanted to be a “martyr” and had hoped to distract officers from the real gunman.

Authorities say George Zinn, 71, approached a police officer immediately after the shooting at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 and yelled, “I shot him, now shoot me,” even though officers did not see a weapon on him. Zinn continued repeating the false claim as he was taken into custody, at one point telling officers to “just shoot him,” according to police records obtained by the Washington Examiner.