After authorities officially named Tyler Robinson, who was arrested on suspicion of murdering Charlie Kirk, the world press began to gather what was known about this 22-year-old Utah man.
Robinson lived with his parents in St. George, a quiet town in Washington County, Utah. He was a gifted child who won a scholarship to Utah State University due to his academic performance in high school.
However, the promising future did not materialize, at least according to CNN Robinson dropped out of college after just one semester.
Although family members told investigators that Robinson had become increasingly interested in politics, he is listed as inactive on the electoral roll, meaning he did not vote in either of the last two general elections.
Although Robinson carved what appeared to be political messages into the cartridge cases for the rifle found at the scene, Governor Spencer Cox declined to provide details about the suspect's motivations at the press conference. Of course, this could also mean that the investigation has not yet progressed to the point where it can be discussed without ruling out assumptions.
He came from a Republican family, with both parents registered to vote for the GOP. His father, Matt Robinson, has been with the Washington County Sheriff's Department for 27 years and, as Donald Trump has indicated, may have tipped off a family pastor friend that his son might have committed the murder. The family friend then contacted authorities, and Tyler Robinson was arrested. Governor Cox thanked the Robinson family for doing the right thing.
According to an internal document, the state attorney's office will charge Robinson with aggravated murder, aggravated assault with a firearm, and obstruction of justice. All of these would be state charges, meaning Robinson's case would not be treated as a federal crime.
Murder is a capital offense in Utah, meaning it can carry the death penalty. The state is not among the bloodiest, with eight people executed between 1976 and 2024, while in Texas, for example, the number has approached thirty in the past five years alone, even though the latter state is ten times more populous than Utah.
Of course, none of this matters much in the case of Tyler Robinson, whose case has taken on a political dimension, so in all likelihood, if the jury finds him guilty, he could be the ninth person in Utah to be executed.
