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Utah state prosecutors on Tuesday charged Tyler Robinson, the man accused of fatally shooting the far right activist Charlie Kirk, with aggravated murder – and they say they intend to pursue the death penalty against the 22-year-old if he is convicted.
Jeff Gray, the top prosecutor in Utah county, where Kirk was fatally shot on 10 September, said Robinson also ordered his roommate to delete incriminating text messages and stay silent if police questioned him in the aftermath of the Turning Point USA executive director’s killing.
The exact charges filed against Robinson include aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm and witness tampering. Aggravating circumstances elevating the charges to an offense deserving the death penalty were the 31-year-old “Kirk’s political expression” and the fact that children “were present” to witness the murder, Gray said.
“I do not take this decision lightly,” Gray said. “And it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime.”
Citing information provided to investigators by Robinson’s mother after his arrest in the killing, Gray made it a point to say that the suspect – whose family was known to be conservative – “had become more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented”.
Gray said that Robinson’s mother also told investigators that her son had started “to date his roommate”, who she maintained “was transitioning genders”.
The prosecutor alluded to how video of Kirk’s killing showed he was shot to death during an event at Utah Valley University (UVU), within seconds of making a remark that “too many” transgender people had committed mass shootings in the US. (In reality, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan non-profit group, only about 0.1% of such shootings over the previous decade had allegedly been carried out by trans people.)
Robinson was arrested the day after Kirk’s killing after those close to him recognized him in suspect photos released to the public by authorities during a manhunt. Robinson surrendered with the help of a family friend, who was a law enforcement official, investigators have said.
Shortly before his surrender, Robinson appeared to take responsibility for fatally shooting Kirk in a message to friends on Discord, the chat platform has reportedly confirmed.
“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” a message from an account belonging to Robinson read hours before his arrest. “It was me at UVU yesterday. i’m sorry for all of this.”
FBI director Kash Patel had also previously revealed that DNA matching Robinson’s was found on a towel wrapped on the rifle believed to have been used in the shooting and on a screwdriver found on the roof from which the single gunshot that killed Kirk was fired. The rifle was found near UVU after being discarded.
Other evidence tying Robinson to the killing include a text message from the suspect to his roommate that allegedly read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.” Gray alleged that Robinson’s roommate asked him at one point: “How long have you been planning this?” Gray said Robinson, who evidently was following news coverage of Kirk’s killing before his arrest, replied “a bit over a week”.
Gray said the roommate asked “why” Robinson did it. Robinson – referring to Kirk – allegedly replied: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.”
Robinson was accused of texting about how his rifle was equipped with a scope worth about $2,000 and – “judging” from the day of Kirk’s killing – the weapon “does just fine”.
Gray said Robinson also texted his roommate about engravings on bullet casings near the Kirk murder weapon that were reported on the news before his arrest.
One referring to a bulge is used to make fun of members of certain online role-playing communities. Another mentioning arrows is a sequence of controller inputs for a video game. Yet another included, O Bella Ciao – an Italian anti-fascist resistance song heard repeatedly on the popular Netflix show Money Heist.
As Gray put it, in the messages about those inscriptions, Robinson wrote: “Remember how I was engraving bullets? The fuckin messages are mostly a big meme, if I see ‘notices bulge uwu’ on fox new I might have a stroke.”
In the rifle they recovered after Kirk’s killing, authorities said they found etched inscriptions on the fired cartridge that read: “NoTices Bulge OWO What’s This?”
Other cartridges read: “hey fascist! CATCH! (up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols)” as well as: “O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!” Another read: “if you read this, you are GAY, lmao,” invoking an abbreviation for “laughing my ass off”.
Gray also claimed Robinson told the roommate to delete their exchange and not to speak to authorities. The county prosecutor reiterated prior statements from authorities that the roommate cooperated with investigators.
Describing Kirk as a father of two children at the start of the news conference, Gray called his killing “an American tragedy”, arguing that he was “murdered while engaging in one of our most sacred and cherished … rights, the bedrock of our democratic republic: the free exchange of ideas in a search for truth, understanding and a more perfect union”.
Gray’s comments came amid a coordinated effort to get people all over the US either fired from or disciplined at their jobs for Kirk commentary deemed offensive by some.
Robinson will remain in custody without bail at the jail into which he was booked after his arrest because of his office’s intent to seek the death penalty against the suspect, Gray said.
The suspect made an initial, virtual court appearance later on Tuesday.
Appearing virtually, an unshaven Robinson provided his full name and then stood silently against a white cement wall during his court appearance, providing an occasional slight nod. Utah fourth district court judge Tony Graf read Robinson his rights and elaborated on the full set of charges leveled against Robinson.
Robinson showed little emotion and wore a green vest, something two court officers told the BBC was intended to prevent self-harm. “Anti suicide smocks” are commonplace in the United States’s court system, and make it much more difficult for prisoners to kill themselves.
Judge Tony Graf tentatively scheduled Robinson’s case to be back in court for a virtual hearing on the morning of 29 September.
