A suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university has been taken into custody, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, ending an intense manhunt that followed what Trump described as a "heinous assassination."

Kirk's killer had eluded police and federal agents after Wednesday's shooting, in which a sniper fired a single gunshot that killed Kirk, 31, during an appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem.

"I think we have him," Trump told Fox News in an interview, adding that a person who knows the suspect had turned him in. "I think with a high degree of certainty we have him in custody."