PROVO, Utah \u2014 Prosecutors brought a murder charge Tuesday against the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk and outlined evidence, including a text message confession to his partner and a note left beforehand saying he had the opportunity to kill one of the nation\u2019s leading conservative voices \u201cand I\u2019m going to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
DNA on the trigger of the rifle that killed Kirk also matched that of Tyler Robinson, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said while outlining the evidence and announcing charges that could result in the death penalty if Robinson is convicted.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said Robinson, 22, wrote in one text that he spent more than a week planning the attack on Kirk, a prominent force in politics credited with energizing the Republican youth movement and helping Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe murder of Charlie Kirk is an American tragedy,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
Kirk was gunned down Sept. 10 while speaking with students at Utah Valley University. Prosecutors allege Robinson shot Kirk in the neck with a bolt-action rifle from the roof of a nearby building on the campus in Orem, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) south of Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
Robinson appeared briefly Tuesday before a judge by video from jail. He nodded slightly at times but mostly stared straight ahead as the judge read the charges against him and said he would appoint an attorney to represent him. Robinson\u2019s family has declined to comment to The Associated Press since his arrest.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ZRIKJKAT6FH5XLZTA47ESE53VY.jpg\")
Charlie Kirk shooting suspect charged Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray holds a news conference after prosecutors file charges against Tyler James Robinson, the suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025 in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo) Was Charlie Kirk targeted over anti-transgender views?<\/p>\n
Authorities have not revealed a clear motive in the shooting, but Gray said that Robinson wrote in a text about Kirk to his partner: \u201cI had enough of his hatred. Some hate can\u2019t be negotiated out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson also left a note for his partner hidden under a keyboard that said, \u201cI had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I\u2019m going to take it,\u201d according to Gray.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor declined to answer whether Robinson targeted Kirk for his anti-transgender views. Kirk was shot while taking a question that touched on mass shootings, gun violence and transgender people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is for a jury to decide,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
After the news conference, Utah\u2019s Department of Public Safety Commissioner, Beau Mason, said about the texts and other investigative threads, \u201cWe are starting to get a picture of where his mind was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson was involved in a romantic relationship with his roommate, who investigators say was transgender, which hasn\u2019t been confirmed. Gray said the partner has been cooperating with investigators.<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s partner appeared shocked in the text exchange after the shooting, according to court documents, asking Robinson \u201cwhy he did it and how long he\u2019d been planning it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parents said their son became more political<\/p>\n
While authorities say Robinson hasn\u2019t been cooperating with investigators, they say his family and friends have been talking.<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s mother told investigators that their son had turned left politically in the last year and became more supportive of gay and transgender rights after dating someone who is transgender, Gray said.<\/p>\n
Those decisions prompted several conversations in the household, especially between Robinson and his father. They had different political views and Robinson told his partner in a text that his dad had become a \u201cdiehard MAGA\u201d since Trump was elected.<\/p>\n
Mason added that the family\u2019s views \u201cdiffered quite significantly,\u201d and the conversations were at times controversial between parents and son.<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s mother recognized him when authorities released a picture of the suspect and his parents confronted him, at which time Robinson said he wanted to kill himself, Gray said.<\/p>\n
The family persuaded him to meet with a family friend who is a retired sheriff\u2019s deputy, who persuaded Robinson to turn himself in, the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n
Robinson was arrested late Thursday near St. George, the southern Utah community where he grew up, about 240 miles (390 kilometres) southwest of where the shooting happened.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ZTRGFMOZPRCILEP4A7KITXPGII.jpg\")
Charlie Kirk Vigil Members of the New York Young Republicans Club respect a minute of silence for Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk during a vigil at Madison Square Park on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in New York. (Kena Betancur\/AP) Robinson detailed movements after the shooting<\/p>\n
In a text exchange with his partner released by authorities, Robinson wrote: \u201cI had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down. Its quiet, almost enough to get out, but theres one vehicle lingering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he wrote: \u201cGoing to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven\u2019t seen anything about them finding it.\u201d After that, he sent: \u201cI can get close to it but there is a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don\u2019t wanna chance it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also was worried about losing his grandfather\u2019s rifle and mentioned several times in the texts that he wished he had picked it up, according to the texts shared in court documents, which did not have timestamps. It was unclear how long after the shooting Robinson was texting.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you,\u201d Robinson wrote in another text to his partner.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor says Robinson told partner to delete texts<\/p>\n
Robinson discarded the rifle and clothing and asked his roommate to conceal evidence, Gray said.<\/p>\n
Robinson was charged with felony discharge of a firearm, punishable by up to life in prison, and obstructing justice, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n
He also was charged with witness tampering because he had directed his partner to delete their text messages and told his partner to stay silent if questioned by police, Gray said.<\/p>\n
Kash Patel says investigators will look at everyone<\/p>\n
FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday that agents are looking at \u201canyone and everyone\u201d who was involved in a gaming chatroom on the social media platform Discord with Robinson. The chatroom involved \u201ca lot more\u201d than 20 people, he said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are investigating Charlie\u2019s assassination fully and completely and running out every lead related to any allegation of broader violence,\u201d Patel said in response to a question about whether the Kirk shooting was being treated as part of a broader trend of violence against religious groups.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/HR2GTV53MZJXQAG62KI5UG5Z4A.jpg\")
FBI Director Kash Patel is sworn in as he appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his first oversight hearing, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) FBI Director Kash Patel is sworn in as he appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his first oversight hearing, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) <\/p>\n
The charges filed Tuesday carry two enhancements, including committing several of the crimes in front of or close to children and carrying out violence based on the subject\u2019s political beliefs.<\/p>\n
Gray declined to say whether Robinson\u2019s partner could face charges or whether anyone else might face charges.<\/p>\n
Kirk, a dominant figure in conservative politics, became a confidant of President Donald Trump after founding Arizona-based Turning Point USA, one of the nation\u2019s largest political organizations. He brought young, conservative evangelical Christians into politics.<\/p>\n
In the days since Kirk\u2019s assassination, Americans have found themselves facing questions about rising political violence, the deep divisions that brought the nation here and whether anything can change.<\/p>\n
Despite calls for greater civility, some who opposed Kirk\u2019s provocative statements about gender, race and politics criticized him after his death. Many Republicans have led the push to punish anyone they believe dishonored him, causing both public and private workers to lose their jobs or face other consequences at work.<\/p>\n
By Jesse Bedayn, Hannah Schoenbaum And John Seewer.<\/p>\n
Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PROVO, Utah \u2014 Prosecutors brought a murder charge Tuesday against the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,77,44,714,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-150203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-international","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}