The suspect connected to the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk is 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson from Washington County, Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox said at a press briefing Friday morning.
President Donald Trump had earlier made an announcement about the suspect being apprehended on Fox News.
Utah County Attorney’s office reviewing charges
Christopher Ballard, the General Counsel at the Utah County Attorney’s Office, told the Deseret News that his office is “carefully reviewing all of the evidence to determine the appropriate charges.”
They plan to file those on Tuesday with a press conference at noon. A location has not yet been determined.
Until then, Ballard said no other formal statement will be given regarding the active investigation.
There are no prior criminal cases involving Robinson in state or federal court records.
Robinson was a student at Dixie Technical College
Dixie Technical College, located in St. George, has confirmed that Robinson was a student there.
Located in Washington County, where Robinson was apprehended, the college confirmed in a press release obtained by Deseret News that Robinson was a third-year student in their electrical apprenticeship programs.
No other information was shared due to federal student privacy laws.
Education records show Robinson was a bright student
An ACT college aptitude test score viewed by the Deseret News showed that Robinson was a promising young student, scoring a 34 out of 36 on the exam, which put him in the top 1% of all test takers.
There is a video circulating online that appears to show Robinson reading a letter from Utah State University, which awards him the presidential scholarship, worth a total of $32,000 in educational funding.
He was also a 4.0 high school student. “His options are endless,” his mother wrote on social media, referring to his college options, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Family member recounted Kirk conversation with Robinson about his politics
During the press conference, Cox said that a family member told law enforcement about a conversation at a family gathering prior to Sept. 10, where Robinson mentioned Kirk was coming to UVU.
The family member also mentioned that Robinson had become more political in recent years, Cox said.
The conversation included mention of Kirk’s viewpoints, and the people involved said Kirk “was full of hate and spreading hate,” Cox said.
Utah State University gives statement
Utah State University reacted to the news of Robinson’s arrest, confirming in a statement that he was a student at the university briefly for one semester in 2021.
The school later confirmed that Robinson had received a presidential scholarship from the the university.
Press conference information about Tyler Robinson
Robinson was apprehended with the help of a family member, Cox said. The family member contacted Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson “confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”
“Robinson was observed in consistent clothing with those surveillance images. Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated Robinson had become more political in recent years,” he said.
Robinson’s roommate showed investigators messages on Discord that related to a rifle. Family members confirmed Robinson had a gray Dodge Challenger, involved in the investigation.
Robinson was not a student at Utah Valley University, Cox said.
Cox said Robinson was apprehended in Washington County, several hundred miles southwest of the university campus. He is currently booked into the Utah County Jail, awaiting charges.
The bullet casings and bullets in the gun were engraved with anti-fascist messages, Cox said, including, “Hey, Fascist! Catch!” and another that said “If you read this, you are gay, lmao,” among others.
“I want to thank the family members of Tyler Robinson, who did the right thing in this case and were able to bring him to law enforcement as well,” Cox said. “I especially want to thank the family of Charlie Kirk.”
Cox also thanked all levels of law enforcement that were involved in the case.
FBI Director Kash Patel said at the press conference that Robinson was apprehended around 10 p.m. Thursday, which is about 36 hours after Kirk was killed, which Patel called a “historic time period.”
Kirk was shot and killed at an event Wednesday at Utah Valley University. As the founder of Turning Point USA, he became a well-known supporter of the Trump administration and for his Q&A debates with students across the country.
Early Friday morning, on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” President Donald Trump announced Kirk’s killer was in custody. Trump said someone “very close to him turned him in,” including a minister who was involved with law enforcement and the suspect’s father.
In the aftermath of the shooting, messages of support poured in for Kirk and his family. Republican lawmakers and members of the Trump administration mourned the loss of the activist. Trump, in a message Wednesday evening, criticized the “radical left” for comparing Kirk to a Nazi and argued the rhetoric was responsible for the “terrorism that we’re seeing in our country.”
Cox closed his remarks Friday with a message about political violence spreading across the country.
“There’s violence happening all across our country, and violence is tragic everywhere, and every life taken is a child of God who deserves our love and respect and dignity,” Cox said. “This is certainly about the tragic death ... political assassination of Charlie Kirk, but it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual.”
“It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times,” he continued.
