OREM, Utah — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Friday announced the arrest of a 22-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk after the man confessed to family members.
“We got him!” Cox exclaimed at a morning news conference.
The suspect, identified as Tyler Robinson, was taken into custody at 10 p.m. Thursday in St. George, Utah, about 280 miles south of Orem. A court affidavit showed he was arrested on suspicion of committing three felonies: aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm and obstruction of justice.
Cox said investigators have extensive evidence linking Robinson to the shooting, including notes on the Discord chat app and markings on ammunition left with the bolt-action rifle that they believe was used in the shooting.
One of the engravings on the ammunition, Cox said, read: “Hey fascist! Catch!”
Another marking read “Bella Ciao” — a reference to an Italian song that pays tribute to the anti-fascist resistance during World War II. It has also been adopted, ironically, in recent years by the far right in an attempt to ridicule leftists.
Some of the more obscure and idiosyncratic engravings Cox described suggest the suspect was steeped in online and video gaming subcultures. “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?” according to Know Your Meme, is a phrase “parodying both furries and online roleplay subcultures, which is typically used online as a method of trolling.”
When asked about the motive of the gunman, Cox suggested the “Hey fascist” marking clearly showed the gunman’s intent: “I think that speaks for itself,” he said.
But experts in extremism say it is far too early to definitely ascribe a motive — and that it can be tricky to instantly discern the ideological leanings of a new generation of young shooters, who are frequently isolated, alienated and radicalized in an online universe of ironic internet memes and misinformation.
“It is increasingly difficult to immediately ascribe motivation as many lone young assailants are often a mix of grievance, mental distress, and aggressions picked up in social circles and online,” said Brian Levin, professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino and founder of its Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. “Verbiage, memes, targeting, crude humor and cultural references that are immediately available often telegraph motives for violent symbolic attacks, but can also be amorphous or disjointed.”
Levin said that if the shooter turns out to be left wing — a fact that is not immediately clear — it would represent part of a small but “continuing trend of hard-left fatal homicides that started again in 2020 after a multi-year pause.” But Levin stressed that the extreme landscape is quite diverse and there are more far-right homicides.
Cox said officials have three days to file charging documents and are seeking the death penalty.
Robinson, a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St. George, Utah, is believed to have acted alone. A law enforcement source said that after the shooting a minister was called to intervene after Robinson threatened to take his own life.
A family member told investigators that Robinson had become more political in recent years.
At a recent family dinner, the family member said that Robinson mentioned Kirk was coming to the university and why he didn’t like him. The family member told investigators that Kirk was “full of hate” and “spreading hate.”
A roommate of Robinson’s also showed investigators messages on Discord, in which Robinson talked about retrieving a rifle from a drop point, leaving the firearm in a bush and watching the area where the rifle was left, according to Cox.
Discord disputed the officials’ account, saying it had identified an account associated with the suspect but “no evidence” that he planned this incident or promoted violence on his platform. “The messages referenced in recent reporting about planning details do not appear to be Discord messages,” the company said in a statement. “These were communications between the suspect’s roommate and a friend after the shooting, where the roommate was recounting the contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere.”
Cox called Kirk’s killing an “attack on the American experiment” and a “watershed moment in American history.”
Americans have to get back, the Republican said, to “being able to have reasonable disagreement where violence is not an option.”
Singling out his “young friends,” Cox said, “You are inheriting a country where … it feels like rage is the only option. … I hear all the time that words are violence. Words are not violence. Violence is violence. And there is one person responsible for what happened here, and that person is now in custody and will be charged soon and will be held accountable.”
Cox’s message was starkly different than that of President Trump, who continued blaming the “radical left” as he broke the news Friday morning on “Fox & Friends” that he believed “with a high degree of certainty” that authorities had apprehended a suspect.
When an interviewer noted there were extremists on both the left and the right of the political spectrum — just three months ago, Minnesota state House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot at their home — Trump said his biggest concern was those on the left.
“The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.”
Cox said surveillance video showed Robinson arriving at Orem’s Utah Valley University in his Dodge Challenger at about 8:29 a.m. Wednesday, wearing a plain maroon T-shirt, light-colored shorts, a black hat with a white logo and light-colored shoes. He then changed into the black outfit captured on videos shared Thursday by law enforcement. After the shooting, he switched his clothes back, presumably to avoid detection.
After tracking his vehicle back to the St. George area, investigators found him wearing similar clothing to what he was wearing before the shooting.
Trump said he hoped the suspect would be found guilty and get the death penalty.
“Charlie Kirk, he was the finest person,” Trump said. “He didn’t deserve this.”
The president praised local and state authorities for their work tracking down the suspect. After Kirk was killed Wednesday after being struck in the neck with a single shot, officials shared video Thursday of a man on the rooftop of a Utah Valley University building.
“Everybody did a great job, you know,” Trump said. “You start off with absolutely nothing, and we started off with a cliff that made him look like an ant, that was almost useless. We just saw there was somebody up there. And so much work has been done over the last two and a half days.”
Kash Patel, director of the FBI, also thanked state and local officials for their cooperation in capturing Robinson.
“In 36 hours — 33 hours to be precise — we have made historic progress for Charlie, Gov. Cox,” Patel said. “Our partnership has been absolutely incredible these last few days. Our partnership will endure.”
News that Robinson had been captured came the morning after Beau Mason, the head of Utah’s Department of Public Safety, said in a TV interview Thursday night that authorities “have no idea” who the shooter is or whether he was still in Utah.
Authorities pleaded for the public’s help in identifying the gunman and released new video of a suspect in dark clothing lying face-down on the corner of a roof at Utah Valley University. He then ran across the roof and jumped off of it, using his hands to lower himself over the edge.
Law enforcement also circulated photos of the suspect — who wore blue jeans, a baseball cap, gray Converse shoes and a long-sleeved black T-shirt that appeared to show an American flag and an eagle.
More than 7,000 tips were submitted to the FBI, according to Cox.
The weapon believed to be used in the killing, a high-powered bolt-action rifle, was recovered in a wooded area near a parking lot, said Robert Bohls, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City office. Mason said the suspect was seen running to that area after getting down from the roof.
Kirk was a fervent conservative and enormously influential figure in American politics, with a combined 25.6 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
A provocative figure, Kirk was known for challenging left-wing orthodoxies on college campuses and clung strongly to his Christian faith, arguing that there should be no division between church and state in America.
On Thursday evening, hundreds gathered in a park in Orem to remember and honor Kirk.
The multi-generational crowd held American flags, pushed children in strollers and donned “Make America Great Again” hats while they prayed and sang together.
“Come together in light,” Mayor David Young said to the crowd. “Violence has no place here.”
The mourners sang along to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and participated in a group prayer.
“This is the healing that we needed,” said Klea Harris, whose children helped organize the event.
Many lined up with flowers, candles and flags and placed them before a memorial with a larger-than-life photo of Kirk.
“It’s important that we don’t turn on each other in this moment,” said Jason Preston, a conservative podcast host. He received rousing applause when he told the crowd: “This is not a battle of right versus left, this is a battle of good versus evil.”
Earlier in the day, young conservatives gathered on campus, hanging red banners in honor of Kirk’s Republican ideology and carrying posters with phrases such as “We are not afraid” and “Charlie Kirk, American hero.”
“I think this kind of woke a sleeping giant,” said Utah Valley University student Jillian Green, 20. “People are outraged and very upset that he [was killed] when he was advocating for so many of us.”
Koby Herrera, a fellow student at the university, also felt that the death could mark a shift in political history, noting that it could further raise Kirk’s influence.
“He had a voice, and I feel like his voice is bigger now that he’s in the grave,” said Herrera, 22.
Kirk held huge sway over young Republicans, and key members of the Trump administration credited him with helping them secure the GOP’s 2024 electoral victory.
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