Updated
July 9, 2026, 4:33 p.m. ET
Before he was arrested, Tyler Robinson admitted to friends that he had assassinated Charlie Kirk and told his then-partner that he regretted doing so, according to evidence prosecutors disclosed in court on Thursday.
The wealth of new evidence was shown during a preliminary hearing for Mr. Robinson, 23, who has been charged with murder and could face the death penalty in the Sept. 10 killing of Mr. Kirk, a conservative activist who was holding an event at Utah Valley University.
Prosecutors showed messages that they said Mr. Robinson had sent to friends on the Discord app, in which he admitted to the shooting and even tried to prove that he was the culprit. “Look at the photos from the surveillance footage,” he wrote. “It was me. Thanks again for everything.”
Mr. Robinson, who turned himself in a day-and-a-half after the killing, has not entered a plea, and the hearing this week in Provo, Utah, is to determine whether prosecutors have met the legal burden to take him to trial. It is widely expected that they will meet that burden, but the hearing has unfolded as a sort of mini-trial in which much new evidence has been revealed.
Prosecutors played video on Thursday of an interview that investigators had conducted with Lance Twiggs, Mr. Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, in April. Mr. Twiggs said that, on the day after the shooting and amid a vast manhunt for the assassin, Mr. Robinson began to pace around their apartment.
“He started crying a little bit, and said he wishes he hadn’t done it,” Mr. Twiggs said in the interview.
Significant portions of that interview were ordered redacted by Judge Tony Graf, who has said he is trying to balance transparency with Mr. Robinson’s right to a fair trial. A lawyer for Mr. Kirk’s widow and parents has vigorously opposed the redaction of any submitted evidence.
Mr. Twiggs said Mr. Robinson left their apartment earlier than usual on the day of the shooting, around 4 or 5 a.m., saying that he had a long trip to an electrician job that day. Mr. Twiggs did not hear from him again until late that night, when Mr. Robinson texted him telling him to look at a note under his keyboard.
Mr. Robinson apologized in the note, according to a photograph of it, which was shown publicly for the first time. “I’m likely dead or facing a lengthy prison sentence,” the note read.
“I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it,” it continued. “I wish we could have lived in a world where this was not necessary.”
As Mr. Twiggs’s interview was played, Mr. Robinson, sitting with his lawyers at the defense table, had no visible reaction. Mr. Robinson’s father and mother were in the gallery, and his father wore a grave expression.
In the video interview, Mr. Twiggs was shown campus surveillance images of the suspect whom the police believe carried out the shooting. Noting his clothing and shoes, he told investigators of the images: “They do look like Tyler Robinson.”
Here’s what else to know:
Roommate relationship: Mr. Twiggs told investigators that he and Mr. Robinson had first met in 2023, when they became roommates, and that they began dating a few months later. Mr. Twiggs said he had never heard Mr. Robinson mention Mr. Kirk before the shooting.
Political views: In a text exchange released by prosecutors last year, Mr. Robinson appeared to admit to killing Mr. Kirk and said that he had “had enough” of Mr. Kirk’s “hatred,” adding, “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” Prosecutors stiffened the murder charge against Mr. Robinson because, they say, he targeted Mr. Kirk because of his expression of political views.
Genetic evidence: Prosecutors this week introduced an F.B.I. report into evidence linking Mr. Robinson to DNA found on a towel that was wrapped around a rifle in a wooded area near campus, though Mr. Robinson’s lawyers have sought to cast doubt on that analysis.
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