The 23-year-old accused of killing Charlie Kirk confessed to his roommate shortly after the shooting and said he wished he had not done it, according to a video interview played in a Utah courtroom on Thursday.
Prosecutors presented the recording as key evidence in a week-long preliminary hearing meant to determine whether the case against defendant Tyler James Robinson can proceed to trial. Robinson is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, a conservative activist, as he spoke at Utah Valley University in Utah last September.
Thursday’s court proceedings in Provo, Utah, a few miles from the campus, provided more insight into Robinson’s mindset after the shooting. The roommate, Lance Twiggs, was Robinson’s romantic partner at the time of the shooting and also lived with him then, authorities have said.
Robinson confessed to the roommate over text shortly after the shooting, officials say. “I had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred,” Robinson wrote to Twiggs, according to court documents that describe the messages.
In the recorded interview with law enforcement that was played Thursday in court, Twiggs recounted seeing Robinson in person after they had already texted about the shooting.
“I just asked him in person if what he said was true the night before, and he said it was,” Twiggs said in the video.
“He started crying a little bit and said he wishes he hadn’t done it,” Twiggs added.
Robinson “kept going around and just doing stuff, I think, to keep himself busy,” according to Twiggs. The defendant eventually said he would talk to his parents or turn himself over to authorities, Twiggs said.
The former roommate also recounted discussing bullet engravings with Robinson about a month before the shooting. Robinson had said he was planning to go hunting with his family and asked Twiggs if they had a Dremel, a kind of power tool, to put messages on the bullets, Twiggs said.
After the shooting, law enforcement recovered bullets with messages such as “Hey Facist! Catch!”, which were show in court Thursday. Robinson referenced the engravings in his texts with Twiggs after Kirk’s killing.
Twiggs is not facing any charges and has cooperated with law enforcement, officials have said.
Prosecutors in Utah are seeking the death penalty against Robinson, who has yet to enter a plea. Robinson turned himself in to authorities after his parents grew suspicious that he was involved and confronted him.
This week’s preliminary hearing, which began Monday and is set to conclude by Friday, has provided more granular detail about the prosecution’s case.
Pictures of text messages displayed in court Thursday showed Robinson telling Twiggs to check under a keyboard for a note. The note read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it,” according to officials.
Twiggs appeared shocked in his texts back. “What?????????????? You’re joking, right????”
“I TRIED TO DELETE THAT,” Robinson replied, adding an expletive.
At first, Robinson appeared to think he could evade arrest, according to the texts. He told Twiggs that no one else knew about his role in the shooting and at one point complained about how “annoying” it would be to wait to retrieve his rifle and “then have to drive back and still go into work.”
“Needless to say imma be late coming home, my b,” the defendant wrote, using slang for “my bad.”
Robinson told Twiggs he had “hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age.” He had left his rifle behind; if he grabbed it “unseen,” Robinson wrote, “I will have left no evidence.”
Twiggs told Robinson to stay safe and asked how long he had been planning the attack, according to the texts shown in court.
A “bit over a week I believe,” Robinson replied.
The defendant suggested he was less worried about law enforcement than about his “old man” being upset if he did not bring back “grandpa’s rifle.” That prospect, Robinson texted Twiggs, was “far scarier than any fed.”
His father “wanted to use a higher calibre for the rifle hunt,” Robinson added. “Judging from today I’d say [grandpa’s] gun does just fine.”
Lawyers on both sides of the case have spent much of their time this week arguing over what evidence should be shown to the public before the case heads to trial.
The defense has argued to keep much of the evidence from the media and public during the preliminary hearing because the information could bias potential jurors. But prosecutors as well as an attorney for Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk — who has been in the courtroom with other family members — have pushed back. Kirk’s lawyer argued in a legal filing Thursday that every exhibit used in the hearing should be visible to those in the courtroom.
“[In] the absence of transparency, speculation and conspiracy theories related to the tragic assassination of Mr. Kirk will continue to proliferate in the public domain, breeding doubt and distrust in the judicial system,” Erika Kirk’s lawyer, Jeffrey Neiman, wrote. Online influencers have for months fanned conspiracy theories about Kirk’s death that have frustrated his friends and family.
Judge Tony Graf opted not to show some portions of Twiggs’s interview on Thursday after a lengthy back-and-forth between the parties.
Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and several other offenses, including allegations he tampered with a witness by telling his roommate to delete incriminating text messages and not talk to police.
Prosecutors are trying to build a case that Robinson targeted Kirk because of Kirk’s politics, including his views on LGBTQ+ rights. Kirk made his name by challenging liberals to debate him on college campuses and founded the activist group Turning Point USA, becoming an influential — and controversial — right-wing voice and ally to President Donald Trump.
Officials say Robinson’s mother told them the defendant grew more political in the year leading up to the shooting, becoming more liberal and focused on transgender rights.
Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University and responding to a question about shootings by transgender people when he was shot.
Twiggs, in the recorded interview, said he had never heard Robinson talk about Kirk before the shooting and also said they did not talk much about gender identity and LGBTQ+ rights. When Robinson did talk about politics, it was usually about Trump or current events, Twiggs said.
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