Utah governor's impassioned plea after Charlie Kirk shooting: 'This is our moment':
After a suspect was arrested in the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk , an emotional Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he is "as angry as I have ever been" and that this shooting marks a "moment" in the nation's history.
"This is our moment. Do we escalate or do we find an off-ramp?" Cox told reporters during a press conference on Friday.
Cox confirmed that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was allegedly the person who shot and killed Kirk on Wednesday while the conservative activist was speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem, about 39 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The governor said he could not confirm that the suspect was cooperating with law enforcement and does not believe there are any more suspects.
During his emotional speech, Cox emphasized that violence is not the answer.
"We can return violence with fire and violence. We can return hate with hate. And that's the problem with political violence, is it metastasizes, because we can always point the finger at the other side, and at some point we have to find an off-ramp, or it's going to get much, much worse. These are choices that we can make," Cox said.
Cox said state officials are already moving to pursue the death penalty if the case goes to trial.
ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.
