Tyler Robinson, 22, the man arrested in connection with the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, comes from a MAGA family, his grandmother has revealed.
Although MAGA figureheads have been quick to point fingers at the left for Kirk’s death, Tyler’s grandmother, Debbie Robinson, 69, insisted that they come from a family of Trump supporters.
She spoke with the Daily Mail on Friday after news of Robinson’s arrest broke. “My son, his dad, is a Republican for Trump,” Debbie told the outlet. “Most of my family members are Republican. I don’t know any single one who’s a Democrat.”
According to the outlet, Robinson’s father, Matt, 48, was the one to turn Tyler into the authorities after he confessed to the grisly crime. Debbie has not been able to get in touch with her son since news of her grandson’s arrest went public.
Tyler Robinson with his family, including his mother Amber and his father Mark, on a vacation Facebook
“I’m just so confused,” Debbie said of her grandson’s arrest. “[Tyler] is the shyest person,” she said. “He has never, ever spoke politics to me at all.”
She insisted that Robinson “has never, ever gotten in trouble in his life.”
On Friday morning, President Donald Trump announced that a suspect had been taken into custody after Kirk, 31, was shot dead during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Kirk’s death is assumed to have been a political assassination, as he was a prominent MAGA activist.
According to public records, Robinson’s parents are both registered Republicans. His mother, Amber Robinson, 44, is a licensed social worker. His father, Matt, runs a business installing kitchen countertops, cabinets, and stone surfaces in their home city of Washington, Utah. Both of them have held hunting licenses. A Facebook post made by Amber Robinson describes one of Tyler’s brothers as a “gun toting, cowboy loving, brilliant kid.”
Facebook post from Amber Robinson, mother of Tyler Robinson, the suspected shooter in the death of Charlie Kirk. Facebook
Tyler is registered as an unaffiliated voter, but has not voted in the past two general elections. According to Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Tyler had reportedly “become more political in recent years.”
“The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10th, and in the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” Cox said.
Cox did not provide further details on how, exactly, Robinson had become more political in recent years. Photos found on Facebook show that Robinson dressed up as President Donald Trump for Halloween in 2017—with the president’s face painted green—but internet experts who have sought to contextualize Robinson’s radicalization within online culture have suggested this could have been a meme, much like the symbols and phrases found scratched into Robinson’s bullet casings were.
Cox shared that Robinson’s roommate had handed in incriminating Discord messages in which Tyler stated specifics about bullet engravings and details about a rifle in a hidden location. Discord, however, released a statement saying Robinson did not plan the attack on their platform or promote violence.
“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,” Jud Hoffman, vice president of trust and safety at Discord, said in the statement.
Tyler Robinson and his mother, Amber Robinson Amber Jones Robinson/Facebook
Before Robinson’s arrest, the police captured and subsequently released two previous suspects.
Cox said that the charges against Robinson will likely be filed next week. In a Friday interview with Fox News, Trump said that he hopes Robinson is punished to the fullest extent of the law. “I hope that he was going to be found guilty, I would imagine, and I hope he gets the death penalty,” the president said.