Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told reporters on Sunday that the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk is not co-operating with authorities.
“He has not confessed to authorities. He is not co-operating, but all the people around him are co-operating. And I think that’s very important,” Cox told ABC News‘ This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
He added that investigators are still working to establish a motive.
The suspect in the shooting was identified Friday as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, following a 33-hour manhunt.
This photo released by the Utah Governor’s Office on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, shows Tyler Robinson.
Utah Governor’s Office via AP
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Charlie Kirk shooting suspect Tyler Robinson arrested after family turned him in: FBI
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Robinson remains in custody and charges are expected to be laid on Tuesday, Cox said.
Cox was also asked about alleged Discord messages authorities say Robinson shared with others after the shooting. The New York Times reported that he had communicated about being the gunman after the fatal incident, reportedly sending a message that the suspect looked like his “doppelganger.”
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“All we can confirm is that those conversations definitely were happening, and they did not believe it was actually him. It was all joking until he admitted that it actually was him,” Cox said.
During an interview on Friday, the Utah governor told Fox News that the suspect was someone who “hated Charlie Kirk, and hated his message and hated what he was doing.”
JUST IN — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on suspected assassin’s motive: “This is someone who hated Charlie Kirk, and hated his message and hated what he was doing — and decided to use political violence to end his life… This is an assault on not just him, but on all of us.” |… pic.twitter.com/ahnTrNBKIy
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 12, 2025
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Cox added that “much, much more information” will be revealed after charges are filed in the next couple of days. The governor urged Americans to choose kindness in a time of high political tension.
“These are very tragic circumstances that impact all of us,” Cox said.
Kirk, a conservative political activist, ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and co-founder of the non-profit organization Turning Point USA, died after he was shot in the neck while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
FILE – President Donald Trump shakes hands with moderator Charlie Kirk, during a Generation Next White House forum at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, March 22, 2018.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File
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Robinson was turned in to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on the night of Sept. 11 by a family member and a friend, who had information that allegedly implied Robinson had been involved in the shooting.
Trump announced Kirk’s death on social media, writing on Truth Social shortly after the shooting, “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”
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U.S. Vice-President JD Vance is set to host an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show on Monday as a tribute to the late 31-year-old father, he announced Sunday night on X.
Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA in suburban Chicago in 2012 to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success. But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.
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Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.
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