The man suspected of shooting and killing Charlie Kirk had been in a relationship with a flatmate who is transitioning from male to female, the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has announced.
Tyler Robinson, 22, has not confessed to the murder of the political activist, but his flatmate is cooperating with investigations.
Mr Kirk was fatally shot in the neck while speaking to 3,000 people at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
He was shot moments after he was asked by a member of the crowd: "How many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last ten years?"
Mr Krik, who was an outspoken critic of transgender rights, replied: "Too many."
President Trump, alongside thousands of people, has framed it as an act from someone with a "radical-left" view of the world.
Others suggested it could have been written by someone from the far-right, given the cryptic messages on the bullet casings, similar to those of a man who killed 51 people in two mosques in New Zealand in 2019.
Mr Cox said the suspect had a "leftist" worldview, telling ABC News that Mr Robinson came from a conservative family, "but his ideology was very different".
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Tyler Robinson, 22, was in a relationship with a man transitioning into a female
| FBIHe said: "We do know that the roommate is a boyfriend [of the suspect] who is transitioning from male to female. I will say that that person is very cooperative with the authorities."
Mr Cox said the flatmate had no prior knowledge of the shooting and was shocked when they found out.
He described the suspect as an extremely bright student who dropped out of Utah State University after less than a term before moving back to southern Utah.
Mr Cox stated that "there was a lot of gaming going on" and blamed "dark places" on the internet for his alleged radicalisation.
Charlie Kirk at the Utah rally hours before he was assassinated | GETTYHe continued: "I can't emphasise enough the damage that social media and the internet are doing to all of us.
"These companies, trillion-dollar market caps, have figured out how to hack our brains, get us addicted to outrage."
Mr Robinson had been chatting with friends online, who said that the person wanted by the police looked rather like him and joked that it was him.
According to the New York Times, the suspect wrote on the messaging platform Discord that his "doppelganger" was trying "to get me in trouble".
Republican Governor of Utah Spencer Cox made the announcement
| GB NEWSAnother member of the group said they should turn him in for the financial reward.
Mr Robinson was said to have agreed with another user to avoid eating at a McDonald's in the near future in an apparent reference to Luigi Mangione, the suspect behind the murder of the chief executive of a health insurance company.
Responding to suggestions, Mr Trump would send in the National Guard, Mr Robinson said: "In a red state??? Nah, clearly the shooter was from California."
The website Axios reported that Robinson's flatmate was "aghast" at the slaying and immediately turned over all messages from the suspect.