The breaking news was announced by US President Donald Trump on a morning television show.
“I think with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” said Trump on the sofa of Fox & Friends on Friday morning in New York City. “In custody.”
“Essentially, someone that was very close to him turned him in.”
“Somebody that was very close to him said ‘Hmm, that’s him,’ and essentially went to the father, went to a US Marshal – who was fantastic by the way – and the person was involved with law enforcement but was a person of faith, a minister, and brought him to a US Marshal,” the president added.
It was Trump, too, who first announced that his political ally, Kirk, had died after he was shot in the neck at an outdoor event attended by about 3,000 people at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
At a press conference on Friday morning, officials identified the person in custody as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.
According to BBC Verify, the suspect lives in St George, Utah, near Zion National Park, about 250 miles (400km) south-west of the campus where Kirk was shot.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters that “a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them”.
Cox said surveillance video shows the suspect arriving on the university campus in a grey Dodge Challenger at 08:29 local time (14:29GMT) – nearly four hours before the shooting.
He told journalists investigators had interviewed a family member who said the suspect had become more political in recent years.
Cox told reporters that investigators had found inscriptions engraved on casings recovered with the rifle, which had a scope mounted on top of it.
The inscriptions included “hey fascist! catch!” and “bella ciao” and “if you read this, you are gay, LMAO”.
Bella ciao means “goodbye beautiful” in Italian. It is also the title of a song dedicated to the Italian resistance who fought against the occupying troops of Nazi Germany.
The Utah governor said he was not aware of any potential further arrests in the investigation.
Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith said it had been a “vast, complicated and very, very fast paced investigation” and one that had been “very taxing”.
FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters the crime scene was large, but had been processed quickly and forensic evidence had been recovered.
He said the first federal agents had arrived on the scene some 16 minutes after Kirk was shot.
“Just last night, the suspect was taken into custody at 10pm local time,” Patel said.
The FBI director said his agents had been sifting through 11,000 leads received as of Friday morning.
The arrest came after the FBI released grainy pictures of a “person of interest” wanted for the shooting.
Investigators appealed for the public’s help identifying the suspect, who was wearing sunglasses, Converse shoes and a “distinctive” long-sleeved black top featuring an American flag and an eagle.
After shooting Kirk from a rooftop, the suspect dropped from the side of the building and ran.
As he climbed down off the edge of the roof, he left palm impressions where forensic experts went to collect DNA.
He also left a shoe print that indicated he was wearing Converse shoes, similar to those worn by the suspect in the surveillance images.
After dropping off the building, CCTV showed the man moving across a grassy area before entering traffic.
He crossed the street into a wooded area, where the firearm believed to have been used in the shooting was later found.
On Wednesday, Patel said another potential suspect had been briefly detained for questioning before being released.
Another person – seen in viral videos on social media – was taken into custody immediately after the shooting, but was determined not to be the gunman. (BBC News)
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