Tyler Robinson , a 22-year-old student, with no criminal record, known political affiliation or personal relationship with the victim, is the man who murdered Charlie Kirk last Wednesday, the activist, conservative influencer and idol of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) world while he was participating in a debate before 3,000 people on the campus of Utah Valley University.
"We got him," Utah Governor Spencer Cox celebrated on camera, ending more than 30 desperate hours of hunting the man. Around midnight Friday, Robinson, advised by his family and accompanied by a church leader, turned himself in to authorities. Beau Mason, Utah's public safety commissioner, said the young man went to a sheriff's office near his home, about 350 kilometers southwest of where the crime occurred."When our investigators arrived, they were able to peacefully make contact and conduct the arrest process. He was very compliant, and his family did an excellent job helping him reach a decision to turn himself in," he added.
According to their accounts, his relatives recognized Robinson in the images distributed by the FBI. They contacted him and he"confessed or made it understood" that he was the shooter. They contacted his pastor and together they convinced him to end his escape and mediated with the agents. Investigators believe he is the only person responsible for what happened and have messages from his phone, in addition to the recordings and the murder weapon. He is being held without bail, and the charges being considered are aggravated murder, use of a firearm, and obstruction of justice, although he has not yet been formally charged. His attorney has advised him not to answer questions for now, and his first hearing will be Tuesday at noon. The governor has already warned that they will seek the death penalty.
Although everything happened at night, the FBI and police immediately conducted numerous interviews with his relatives and his roommate. They explained how the young man"had become very politicized in recent years" and how last week he had an argument at home after mentioning that Charlie Kirk was going to be at the university near the capital and how he considered him a bad person and a "hate-spreader."
Trump's advance
It was the country's president, Donald Trump, who broke the news of the arrest. Just as he was the one who confirmed to the world that Kirk, a close associate and friend of his and his family, had died after being shot in the neck, the president surprised everyone during an appearance on one of his favorite Fox programs by saying that there was a person in custody. On the same show, he lashed out at what he calls the"lunatic left," blaming them for political violence."Right-wing radicals tend to be radical because they don't want crime. Left-wing radicals are the problem, and they are cruel, horrible, and politically astute," he asserted.
"At some point, we have to find a way out, or things are going to get much, much worse. We can't return violence with violence, we can't return hate with hate. That's the problem with political violence: it spreads," Governor Cox said shortly afterward, striking a completely opposite tone and attempting to lower the temperature in a moment of enormous tension."History will dictate whether this is a turning point for our country, but each of us can decide right now if this is a turning point for us," he urged, while calling social media a"cancer."
All thoughts are now on the motivation, the trigger. Robinson is a native of Washington, D.C., in the same state. He was born and raised there. There are records on social media and online of his good grades in school and that he was enrolled at another college in at least 2021. He was currently in his third year of an electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, just a few miles from the family home. Robinson was registered to vote, but without a political affiliation, and had not exercised his right in recent voting sessions. The papers filed with the judge yesterday show that he had no criminal record.
Investigators also have messages from the detainee with his roommate, discussing the crime after it had already been committed, mentioning where he left the gun and how he was fleeing. Within minutes of his identity being revealed, the internet was filled with images taken from the social media accounts of Robinson's relatives, showing a close-knit, middle-class, Republican-voting family accustomed to traveling together fishing or camping, and with regular contact with weapons. According to The Daily Mail, his father is a police officer with nearly three decades of service at the county sheriff's office, and his mother works for people with disabilities. He is the oldest of three siblings. He graduated from Pine View High School in St. George in 2020, and there is a video of the family opening his college entrance exam scores, on which he achieved outstanding grades.
"Hey, fascist! Let's see if you can catch him!"
At the press conference announcing his capture, both the governor and the FBI director pointed to one piece of physical evidence as irrefutable proof of the political nature of the attack. Unspent ammunition found next to the weapon used in the shooting bore a series of words, phrases, or drawings. One read:"Hey, fascist! Catch him!" and the other featured lyrics from the song "Bella Ciao." Another read: "If you're reading this, you're gay, LMAO," an acronym for "laughing my ass off." There were also seemingly random words: "notices, bulges, OWO, what's this?," news, warnings, and a surprised expression used in cell phone slang. There are also mentions of arrows pointing in various directions, which are clear references to movements made with video game controllers and to the slang used by players of Helldivers 2, a very popular game. Even the song"Bella Ciao" is the background music for another game, Far Cry 6.
Security camera reconstruction shows Robinson arrived at the Utah Valley University campus at 8:29 a.m. Tuesday in a gray Dodge Challenger, wearing a plain brown T-shirt, light-colored shorts, and a black cap with a white logo, as seen in surveillance video. He then changed, climbed onto a rooftop, fired a single shot, jumped from the roof to the ground, and fled through a wooded area, where he abandoned the gun. He then drove away from the area and headed back south to his home, exchanging messages on Discord with just one of his friends.
The platform has confirmed that the suspect had an account, but that there was no evidence that he used the app to plan the incident or to promote violence, a Discord spokesperson said in a statement."The messages referenced in recent reports about planning details do not appear to be Discord messages. They were communications between the suspect's roommate and a friend after the shooting, in which the friend described the contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere," the statement said.
The defendant's digital trail reveals a good student, with good grades and a scholarship to study at the state's public institutions. The images also show extensive experience using rifles since he was a child, posing with high-caliber weapons at fairs or National Guard exhibitions, and even one from 2017, on Halloween, with him in a Donald Trump costume.
