In southern Utah, it’s said there are more churches than traffic lights. Known as “red-rock country”, hulking, ferrous mesas rise from the earth to form a Martian-looking basin, in the middle of which lies the city of Washington.

The sprawling settlement of identikit stucco houses feels in many ways like the edge of the earth. “There’s nothing to do out here except play golf,” said one taxi driver.

Yet on Friday, this sleepy urban sprawl was transformed into the broadcasting hub of the US, after the FBI revealed that Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin was one of their own.

College drop-out Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested on Thursday night and is expected to be charged with murder.

Mr Robinson’s confession brought to an end a two-day manhunt, after Mr Kirk, an influential conservative activist and key Donald Trump ally, was shot dead on Wednesday, aged 31, while addressing a crowd of 3,000 students at Utah Valley University.

The gunman fired a single lethal shot from 142 yards, before jumping off a roof overlooking the pop-up stage where Mr Kirk was hosting one of his hugely popular “Prove Me Wrong” sessions, debating students on conservative issues.

The killing has reverberated across the US, sparking furious online debates around freedom of speech and fears of rising Left-wing radicalism.

On the middle-class street where Mr Robinson grew up, 260 miles south of where Mr Kirk was killed, the once-quiet neighborhood was abuzz with camera crews. Reporters jostled for quotes from bewildered residents struggling to come to terms with how their peaceful suburb had become the focus of nationwide manhunt.

“For something of global impact on our nation to happen in your neighbourhood – it’s wild,” said one man.