Charlie Kirk’s parents, his widow, Donald Trump Jr., and nearly two dozen others close to the Turning Point USA founder came to Provo, Utah, on Monday for alleged assassin Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing.
Day one of the hearing, held in Utah’s 4th District Court, featured prosecutors presenting evidence to connect the man caught on Utah Valley University’s security cameras to the man held in Utah County Jail for the last 10 months.
Kirk was shot in the neck while addressing students last Sept. 10; he was declared dead at Timpanogos Regional Hospital just a few hours later. Robinson, now 23, surrendered to authorities on the evening of Sept. 11, allegedly confessing to having shot the conservative commentator.
For those attending the hearing, the day began long before Judge Tony Graf struck his gavel at 9 a.m. Members of the press and the public lined up outside the courthouse starting before 6 a.m. to secure a spot in the gallery’s one open row. In the dark on the asphalt, some brought camp chairs; others sat on the ground, shifting in anticipation.
Once inside, Monday’s hearing lasted eight hours and included testimony from former UVU police officer Christopher Bagley and state investigative sergeant David Hull.
Tuesday’s lineup will likely include testimony from Brian Davis of Utah’s Bureau of Investigation and Jen Faumuina, of the state’s Department of Public Safety. Throughout the duration of the week, Judge Tony Graf will hear from a variety of witnesses, including a pre-recorded interview with Robinson’s romantic partner, Lance Twiggs.
Hearings will be held daily until Friday, with prosecutors hoping to present enough evidence to let the case proceed to a criminal trial.
As prosecutors constructed the story of the shooting, those on the first two rows of the courtroom’s gallery — filled by Kirk’s friends and family — and the fourth row — filled by Robinson’s — couldn’t help but show the pain they were feeling.
Erika Kirk sat between her mother and her mother-in-law, and as Bagley explained the lead-up to the fatal gunshot, Kirk’s family stood and quietly walked out of the room.
They returned after the break, then left before prosecutors played three graphic videos of the shooting. Graf and the attorneys watched the videos on their private screens, with the audio playing throughout the courtroom.
The first video played was taken on a phone by an audience member at UVU and submitted as evidence to investigators.
As the sound of the seconds leading up to the gunshot filled the courtroom, one of Kirk’s friends rested his forehead on the bench in front of him. He left before the third video. The woman to his right sat straight faced and dabbed at her eyes.
Day 1 gives new look into evidence
In a quiet voice, investigator Hull described the shooter’s four separate appearances on UVU campus on Sept. 10: a young, slight-statured man was seen on various security cameras at two different times that Wednesday morning, once that afternoon around the time Kirk was shot, then once more that night, leading into the next day.
Utah County prosecutor David Sturgill asked Hull if he recognized the man seen in 16 hours of security camera footage. Hull said he recognized him as Tyler Robinson, who sat just several feet in front of him, sitting between his defense attorneys.
Behind the gallery’s row of journalists and members of the public, Robinson’s parents sat silently next to members of their family.
Following Bagley’s testimony, in which he described points of evidence discovered on the roof of UVU’s Losee Center, defense attorney Kathryn Nester indirectly accused the police officer of negligence.
During the chaos of the shooting, Bagley happened across an empty holster. Through his cross examination, Bagley said he didn’t know if the gun was ever found or who it belonged to, but maintained that the gunshot he heard didn’t sound like a hand gun; it sounded like a rifle. He described the echo of a rifle as deeper and “more violent.”
It was when Bagley was first down in the outdoor amphitheater that he said he looked up at the Losee Center and realized Charlie Kirk’s white tent was perfectly in its line of sight.
When he went to investigate the roof, Nester added that Bagley didn’t see the imprint of a body on the roof himself; he had only learned about it as prosecutors prepared him for trial.
At several instances throughout the first eight-hour day, attorneys requested private conversations with Graf. Graf would turn on white noise, the prosecution and the defense attorneys would approach, then each time, with tense faces, the group worked through their concerns.
When the preliminary hearing picks up on Tuesday morning, it will resume with the last portion of Hull’s testimony.