Charlie Kirk suspect wrongly arrested for shooting charged with child sex abuse offences

A man who falsely confessed to the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk has now been charged with possession of child sex abuse material. George Zinn, 71, is facing four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. It comes after FBI agents said they discovered images of underage girls on his mobile phone.

Mr Zinn was previously charged with obstruction of justice. That came after he shouted in the aftermath of Mr Kirk's assassination: "I shot him, now shoot me." Bodycam and arrest footage of Mr Zinn being handcuffed and led away by police went viral. Police later said Mr Zinn admitted to lying and told investigators he had wanted to draw attention away from the real shooter.

Prosecutors now allege that an FBI analysis of Mr Zinn's phone has uncovered dozens of images of undressed under-age girls, according to US media outlet TMZ.

Court documents filed on Tuesday reportedly show Mr Zinn is charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He allegedly admitted to agents that he gets "sexually aroused" by minors.

Utah County Sheriff's Office confirmed in a statement that there is no information tying Mr Zinn to the actual shooter and the new exploitation charges were added after the FBI examined his phone.

The actual suspect has been identified as Tyler Robinson, 22. He was arrested last Friday and prosecutors are now preparing capital murder charges against him.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on Monday that DNA on a towel wrapped around a rifle found near where Mr Kirk was assassinated matched that of Mr Robinson.

Mr Patel told Fox News that investigators have also used DNA evidence to link the suspect with a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop from where the fatal shot was fired.

A popular right wing activist, Mr Kirk was shot last Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University. The shooting raised fears about increasing political violence in a deeply polarised US.

Officials have said Mr Robinson hated Mr Kirk and followed a "leftist ideology" which had grown in recent years. Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Mr Robinson's family and friends told investigators he had spent large amounts of time scrolling the "dark corners of the internet".

Mr Patel told Fox News that Mr Robinson had written in a note before the shooting that he had an opportunity to take out Mr Kirk and was going to do it.

Authorities said Mr Robinson has not been cooperating with law enforcement since being jailed for suspicion of aggravated murder.

They said he may have been "radicalised" online and bullets found in the gun used to kill Mr Kirk included anti-fascist engravings. Court records show one bullet casing bore the message, "Hey, fascist! Catch!"