OREM, Utah — A 22-year-old Utah man who was arrested and booked on murder charges in the assassination of Charlie Kirk held deep disdain for the conservative activist’s provocative viewpoints and indicated to a family member that he was responsible for the shooting, authorities said Friday.
The arrest marked a major break in a case that shocked the country and raised fresh alarms about political violence in a deeply polarized United States.
Tyler Robinson had become “more political” in the run-up to the shooting and mentioned during a dinner with family that Kirk would be visiting Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox said at a news conference. The Republican governor cited as evidence engravings on bullet casings found in the rifle that authorities believe was used in the attack, as well as chat app messages attributed to the suspect that a roommate shared with law enforcement.
The governor credited Robinson’s family with helping turn him over to authorities.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,” Cox said soon after the arrest was first heralded by President Donald Trump on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends.”
The investigation is ongoing, Cox said. Robinson was arrested on suspicion of capital murder, weapons and obstruction offenses. He was expected to be formally charged Tuesday ahead of an initial court appearance.
Kirk’s widow speaks
Friday night, Kirk’s widow, Erika, delivered her first public remarks since the shooting. Speaking from the office where her late husband hosted his podcast, she said he loved America, nature and the Chicago Cubs.
“But most of all, Charlie loved his children and he loved me with all of his heart,” she said.
She had a pointed message for “the evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination,” though she did not specifically name Robinson, who law enforcement officials believe acted alone.
“You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry,” she said.
She thanked Trump, saying through tears that her husband loved the president, and vowed to keep her husband’s work alive, continuing his campus tour, radio show and podcast.
Robinson’s arrest late Thursday capped a frenetic day-and-a-half search that just hours earlier seemed stuck when authorities pleaded for tips and leads from the public. The assassination while Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem reverberated across the country because of his outsize influence in conservative circles, his close connections with Trump and the questions it raised about the escalating toll of political violence that has spanned the ideological spectrum.
“This is our moment: Do we escalate or do we find an off-ramp?” Cox asked, making an impassioned plea for young people to bridge differences through common ground rather than violence. “It’s a choice.”
New details on evidence
Authorities, who have yet to reveal a motive, described evidence they said shed potential light on the slaying.
Ammunition found with the weapon was engraved with taunting, anti-fascist and meme culture messages, including one bullet casing that said, “Hey, fascist! Catch!” Cox said.
In addition, a roommate shared with authorities messages from the chatting app Discord that involved a contact named Tyler and discussed a rifle wrapped in a towel, engraved bullets and a scope, the governor said. A Mauser .30-caliber, bolt-action rifle was found in a towel in a wooded area along the path investigators believe Robinson took after firing a single shot from a distant roof and then fleeing.
The clothes the suspect wore when confronted by law enforcement late Thursday matched what he had on when he arrived on campus, and a family member confirmed he drove a gray Dodge Challenger like the one seen in surveillance video that recorded Robinson driving to the university the day of the shooting, Cox said.
Robinson’s father recognized him from the photos released by the FBI and told him to turn himself in. Robinson refused at first, but then changed his mind, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. His father contacted their youth pastor, who also occasionally works with the U.S. Marshals and called the agency so Robinson could turn himself in.
