Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, has been charged with aggravated murder, which, if convicted of, means he could face the death penalty.
In a 10-page probable cause document, Utah prosecutors levied a total of seven charges against Robinson. Along with the murder charge, others were felony discharge of a firearm, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and committing a violent crime when children are present.
Prosecutors outlined the evidence against Robinson, including a text message confession to his transgender partner, who is also his roommate. Robinson also allegedly left a note to his partner that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
“The murder of Charlie Kirk is an American tragedy,” Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said in a press release. Gray declined to comment on whether Robinson’s partner could face charges and whether Robinson was cooperating with authorities, the Associated Press reported.
Kirk, an evangelical Christian whose Turning Point USA organization sponsored debates and rallies on college campuses, was killed on Sept. 10 while speaking to students at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem.
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Robinson was arrested late Thursday.
The death penalty in Utah means lethal injection, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Utah was the first state to resume executions after capital punishment was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976.
Robinson texted he had enough of Kirk’s “hatred”
In a text exchange with his partner that was replicated in the charging document, Robinson reportedly admitted to the murder.
To which the partner replied, “What?????????????? You’re joking, right????”
“I had enough of his hatred,” Robinson responded. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Robinson then described how he needed to retrieve his gun from the woods.
“I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down,” he texted. “Its quiet, almost enough to get out, but theres one vehicle lingering.”
Robinson also told his partner that the rifle had been his grandfather’s and that it is “very unique.” Robinson expressed concern that if the gun was found, it would be linked to his family.
The texts included in the charging document do not have timestamps, so it is unclear how long after the shooting Robinson sent them.
Robinson’s DNA found on the gun
Prosecutors stated that Robinson shot Kirk in the neck with a bolt-action rifle from the roof of a nearby campus building.
Soon after the shot, a university police officer began to scan the area for potential sniper positions. He found a rooftop that had a direct line of sight to Kirk, along with marks in the gravel atop the roof that suggested a sniper had been camped there. He spurred officers to evaluate surveillance videos surrounding the roof.
Camera footage was found that captured the suspect running to a spot on the roof overlooking Kirk’s platform before the shooting, then fleeing afterwards.
Law enforcement then followed the suspect’s escape path and found a bolt-action rifle wrapped in a towel in a wooded area at the northeast edge of campus.
Robinson’s DNA was found on the rifle’s trigger, shell casings, and the towel. Prosecutors noted that each round of the rifle had various etchings.
One was etched with: “Notices bulge, OwO What’s This?” Another read: “Hey facist! Catch!” The third said: “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao ciao ciao.” And the final one: “If you read this, you are gay lmao.”
In text messages cited by prosecutors, Robinson talked about these etchings.
He said, “Remember how I was engraving bullets? The [expletive] messages are mostly a big meme, if I see “notices bulge uwu” on fox new I might have a stroke.”
Robinson’s parents identify their son as the shooter
The day after the shooting, Robinson’s mother saw a photo of the shooter and thought it looked like her son.
She called Robinson and asked him where he had been the day of the shooting and Robinson said he had been home sick. His mother told his father she was worried the shooter was their son.
According to prosecutors, his father agreed.
The father added that the rifle looked like one he had given his son. When he asked Robinson for a photo of the gun, Robinson did not reply.
After the parents insisted on meeting with their son in person, Robinson reportedly confessed he was the shooter, saying, “There is too much evil and the guy (Charlie Kirk) spreads too much hate.”
Robinson’s family convinced him to turn himself in.
His mother told prosecutors that her son has moved left politically over the last year, “becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.” Kirk was shot while answering a question that dealt with mass shootings, gun violence, and transgender individuals.
Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.
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8 Responses
I’m confused about how this story fits into your mission of exposing abuse and restoring the church.
IMO it’s about increasing readership due to the controversial subject. (No offense Julie)
And to increase the possible astroturfing in the comment section. To prove my point just look at the many stories on this site that have 0 comments.
Yes, hear what you’re saying. But things are such that certain people have wilfully made everything to be connected to everthing else. More so now in the matter of criminal behaviour, politics, nationalisn, culture, world views, the utilisation of religion, church & christianity, not to mention also ethics & morality or lack thereof.
It seem boundaries have been rubbed out.
Is this the same “confusion” held when the shooter was described as the following (on this site)?
“Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Was Raised Mormon and Republican, But Registered ‘Unaffiliated’”
If we are going to live in truth, then we have to consider all of the evidence, whether is supports our beliefs or not.
What is being communicated to the public, does strongly indicate that Tyler Robinson did murder Charlie Kirk, and will be convicted at trial of that offence. Focus might now move to what various parties are seeking to make of the killing: where how this will go politically and culturally and electorally, is not at all clear; my sense being that how people variously judge the current WH administration, will be what drives polarisation on this killing and its aftermath, as opposed to much reflection on the intrinsics of the killing and its context.
There’s no doubt that Tyler Robinson was responsible and should likewise be held responsible for his actions. But here are a few things to consider.
1. Acts of politically driven violence by the far Right far outweighs those done by the far Left. I bring your attention to the ABC News article in 2020 that documents 54 occurrences when threats and violent acts were carried out by those invoking Trump. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blame-abc-news-finds-17-cases-invoking-trump/story?id=58912889
Not to mention the acts carried out on Jan 6, 2021. An act that were provoked by Trump. And then the recent killing of Melissa Hortman and her husband.
Other statistics and studies show this to be true https://theconversation.com/right-wing-extremist-violence-is-more-frequent-and-more-deadly-than-left-wing-violence-what-the-data-shows-265367
2. This does not mean that we should ignore possible future actions by the far Left. For many desperate times mean taking desperate measures.
3. Most political killings are done my Lone Wolf perpetrators. Many are influenced by external sources such as social media but to date no organization is 100% to blame.
4. I don’t celebrate Kirk’s death but since his ideas are not infallible they are subject to critique.
George Arthur
I respond from a UK perspective which shows that TRR reaches an audience outside the bubble of American partisan politics.
I believe the laws of free speech should be rewritten to the 21st Century. Inflammatory language labelling conservatives as far right or liberals as far left should be admonished. Hate speech, libel and any comment mentioning violence against another human being, or expressing joy at the death of any human being who did not kill or physically assault another human being must be outlawed.
As a Christian I would not call for violence or speak joyfully over the death of another human being – it’s despicable in every sense.
A man has died, and another will face justice in the courts.
Charlie Kirk was no saint, and he would be first to agree that with anyone in a debate. But neither was he an evil, criminal far right exponent who deserves to be spoken of in such despicable hate speech as espoused by many of his fellow countrymen and women.
Free speech should follow this simple command “ “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.”
I posted earlier about a dad and mum here in Sydney, Australia who have publicly / repeatedly forgiven the young man who killed their 3 children, a cousin of their children, and left another sibling with brain damage, when he crashed into them while on a drug / alcohol binge. My post hasn’t shown up as a comment yet – maybe because it contained a link about the story. As I already commented, I’ve been thinking this would be amazing if Charlie’s family / camp reached out to Charlie’s killer with the same mercy, grace, love, forgiveness, etc – and wondered what kind of lasting results that would have. I’ve read further reports, which I think has been some amazing journalism, where his life has been spared by muslims in prison with him because of the forgiveness this Christian ‘brother’ has shown him. And the dad and this man are now ministering to others in prison together. It’s impacted that sub-culture in amazing ways.