Key Points
- Tyler Robinson, 22, was taken into custody on Thursday night, around 33 hours after the shooting.
- Law enforcement officials had previously released a series of security camera images of a person of interest.
- Kirk was killed by a single bullet as he spoke onstage at an outdoor amphitheatre at Utah Valley.
Fresh details have emerged about the Utah man suspected of killing Charlie Kirk, including that he had become "more political" in recent years and expressed dislike for the slain conservative commentator.
Tyler Robinson, 22, was taken into custody on Thursday night local time, about 33 hours after Kirk, 31, was shot dead while onstage debating students at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.
At a press conference on Friday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox revealed details about Robinson and his arrest, including that he was apprehended after he confessed to a family friend, or "implied that he had committed" the murder, before that person contacted police.
Cox said a family member of Robinson told investigators he had become "more political in recent years" despite not being affiliated with a political party.
Voter records show he was "inactive", indicating he did not cast a ballot in last year's presidential election.
Robinson also discussed Kirk's attendance at the university in the days before the shooting.
Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University before he was shot. Source: Getty / Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune
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 law enforcement official stands guard outside the family home of Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk. Source: AAP / David Becker/AP
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.
The messages on the casings included: "O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Ciao, ciao!", "If you read This, you are GAY Lmao" and "hey fascist! CATCH!" followed by arrow symbols that appeared to be a reference to a button sequence for a video game, according to an 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.
Trump himself has survived two attempts on his life, one that left him with a grazed ear during a campaign event in July 2024 and another two months later, foiled by federal agents.
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.
Trump told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program that Kirk's ability to connect with young people and explain his policies had helped him win 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."
