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Key Points
  • Tyler Robinson, 22, was apprehended on Thursday evening, approximately 33 hours following the shooting incident.
  • Earlier, law enforcement had released several images from security cameras featuring a person of interest.
  • Kirk was fatally shot by a single bullet while speaking on stage at an outdoor amphitheater at Utah Valley.
New information has surfaced regarding the Utah man accused of murdering Charlie Kirk, suggesting he had become more politically inclined recently and harbored negative opinions about the conservative figure.
On Thursday night local time, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was detained roughly 33 hours after the 31-year-old Kirk was killed during a debate session with students at an outdoor function at Utah Valley University.
During a Friday press conference, Utah Governor Spencer Cox shared facts about Robinson’s arrest, noting that he was captured after hinting to a family friend that he was involved in the crime, which prompted that individual to alert the authorities.
Governor Cox mentioned that Robinson’s relative informed investigators of his increasing political engagement over recent years, despite his lack of affiliation with any political party.
His voter registration status shows as “inactive,” implying he did not partake in the previous year’s presidential election.

Robinson also mentioned Kirk’s presence at the university days before the fatal incident.

Charlie Kirk in front of an audience

Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University before he was shot. Source: Getty / Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune

“[A family member and Robinson] talked about why they didn’t like [Kirk] and the viewpoints that he had. The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate,” Cox said.

At the time of the shooting, Robinson was living with his parents at his family home in Washington County, in the southwest corner of Utah near the Nevada border.
As a high school student in 2021, Robinson was in the top percentile on his college entrance exam and earned himself a four-year scholarship to Utah State University in Logan.
His proud mother posted a video on Facebook in which her firstborn son, the oldest of three, read aloud the school’s letter offering him the grant.

“He’s so excited to start his journey and it’s going to be so amazing for him!” she wrote in another post.
He attended for one semester before dropping out and taking up an electrical apprenticeship with Dixie Technical College, which is part of Utah’s public university system.

State records reveal he does not have a criminal history.

‘Average kid’: Neighbours describe accused killer

Robinson’s grey Dodge Challenger — the vehicle authorities say he drove to the site of the shooting on Tuesday — was parked outside the two-story stucco home on Friday, in a relatively new housing development built among alfalfa fields.
Dozens of media members were gathered outside, along with half a dozen police cars parked along the street.
Officers stopped reporters from approaching the home.
A neighbour, Steven Green, said he knew the family from attending the same Mormon church down the street.

“Great family, good kids,” he said, though he added he did not know Robinson well.
A man in the foreground with a car visible in the background

A law enforcement officer is seen stationed outside Tyler Robinson’s family residence. Robinson is the accused in the assassination of Turning Point USA’s CEO and co-founder, Charlie Kirk. Source: AAP / David Becker/AP

Canaan Timothy, 21, said he was in the year below Robinson at high school.

Robinson, he said, was just a regular student with an interest in music, who hung out with members of the school band.
“I knew him in passing. Just your average kid,” said Timothy, who lives two blocks from the Robinson family.

“Tyler, he was quiet, but not too quiet.”

Investigators still probing for motive
Investigators are still working to understand what led Robinson to that rooftop.
Officials have not yet identified a precise motive for the shooting, though they offered some clues on Friday morning in announcing his arrest.
Authorities said he had engraved what appeared to be anti-fascist messages on bullet casings they found with the suspected murder weapon.

Details revealed that the messages inscribed on the bullet casings read: “O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Ciao, ciao!”, “If you read This, you are GAY Lmao” and “hey fascist! CATCH!” complemented by arrow symbols resembling those from a video game control sequence, as stated in the arrest affidavit.

The bullet that killed Kirk had also been inscribed: “Notices Buldge OWO what’s this?” an apparent reference to a joke meme about online role play and gaming.
Cox told reporters he would leave interpretation of the messages on the ammunition to others for now.
Law enforcement officials had previously released a series of security camera images of a person of interest and asked the public to help identify him.

Investigators previously said they had found the bolt-action rifle believed to have been used to kill Kirk.

Investigators also spoke to Robinson’s roommate, according to an affidavit.
It was unclear whether they were referring to a current or former roommate.
The roommate showed them comments Robinson had made on Discord — a chat and streaming platform popular with gamers — and messages to the roommate in which he discussed retrieving a rifle from a drop point and then ditching it in a bush wrapped in a towel, the affidavit said.

That matched the description of the gun recovered after the shooting in a wooded area near campus.

Kirk’s political connections

Kirk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was killed by a single bullet as he spoke onstage at an outdoor amphitheatre at Utah Valley.
Trump called the shooting a “heinous assassination.”
The killing has stirred outrage among Kirk’s supporters and denunciations of political violence from Democrats, Republicans and foreign governments.

The charismatic 31-year-old helped build support for Trump among young voters in the 2024 presidential election.

“It is an attack on all of us,” Utah’s governor said, drawing parallels between Kirk’s murder and the assassinations of President John Kennedy, his brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s.
“It is an attack on the American experiment,” Cox said. “It is an attack on our ideals.”
The shooting has punctuated the most sustained period of US political violence since the 1970s.
According to Reuters, there have been more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts across the ideological spectrum since Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Former President Trump has endured two assassination attempts, the first causing a graze to his ear during a campaign event in July 2024, and the second, thwarted by federal agents, occurred a couple of months later.

Kirk, a well-connected activist, author and podcast host, was friends with Vice President JD Vance, Trump’s family and others at the highest echelons of the US government.
Kash Patel, the FBI director, also offered a personal tribute at the press conference:
“Rest now brother, we have the watch. I’ll see you in Valhalla,” he said in closing his remarks, referring to the heavenly reward for warriors in Norse mythology.
Kirk, co-founder and president of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, began his career in conservative and right-wing politics as a teenager.

In an interview with Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Trump remarked that Kirk’s knack for resonating with youths and elucidating his policies played a crucial role in his victory in the 2024 election.

“He had a big impact on the election,” the president said.
“I got so many young voters. No Republican’s ever gotten anything close.”
Kirk appeared at Utah Valley on Wednesday as part of a planned 15-event “American Comeback Tour” of college campuses, having just returned to the US from an overseas speaking tour in South Korea and Japan.
Known for his often-provocative discourse on race, gender, immigration and gun regulation, Kirk would use such events to invite members of the crowd to debate him live, and was frequently challenged by both people on the left and the far right.
“We will never be able to solve all the other problems, including the violence problems that people are worried about if we can’t have a clash of ideas, safely and securely,” the governor said at Friday’s briefing.
“That’s why this matters so much.”
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