‘We got him’: Utah governor confirms Tyler Robinson as prime suspect in Charlie Kirk shooting
Utah governor Spencer Cox confirmed today that Tyler Robinson, 22, is the prime suspect in the murder of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University.
“Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” Cox said.
This information was relayed to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office and seen investigators at Utah Valley University, Cox added.
Key events
Cox notes that Robinson has been booked into the Utah County Jail, which sits less than hour south of Salt Lake City.
Cox confirms that a friend helped to deliver Robinson him to police custody in in Washington County – which is in the southwest corner of the state.
Utah Governor believes that shooter acted alone, says investigation is ongoing
Spencer Cox just said that officials “do not have any information that would lead to any additional arrests”. He added that investigators believe the suspect acted alone but the investigation is ongoing .
‘You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage’, Utah governor addresses younger generation
While addressing the press today, governor Spencer Cox addressed young people watching.
“You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” he said. “Words are not violence. Violence is violence.”
Notably, Cox did not mention anything about the prevalence of gun violence that younger generations face throughout the country.
“I want you to look at how Utahns reacted the last two nights. There was no rioting, there’s no looting, there were no cars set on fire. There’s no violence,” Cox added.
Cox added that the rifle found was determined to be a Mauser model 9836 caliber, a type of bolt-action firearm, that had a scope mounted on top of it.
A short while ago, Utah governor Spencer Cox said that investigators noted inscriptions on the shooter’s gun casings.
On one of three unfired casings read “hey fascist! Catch!”, a second read “oh bella ciao” and a third one read: “If you read this, you are gay, LMAO”.
FBI director confirms that Robinson was taken into custody at 10pm on Thursday
Kash Patel, the FBI director, said that Robinson was taken into custody at 10pm local time on Thursday 11 September.
“That’s why we went so public, so fast, and we’re so transparent. We’re committed to that transparency,” Patel said, referring to the pictures and video that law enforcement shared with the public to help track down the suspect.
Cox added that investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who said that he had become “more political in recent years”.
“The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10,” Cox said. “In the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU…the family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”
‘We got him’: Utah governor confirms Tyler Robinson as prime suspect in Charlie Kirk shooting
Utah governor Spencer Cox confirmed today that Tyler Robinson, 22, is the prime suspect in the murder of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking at a campus event at Utah Valley University.
“Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” Cox said.
This information was relayed to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office and seen investigators at Utah Valley University, Cox added.
The press conference has begun. Governor Spencer Cox is about to speak.
The press conference in Utah with the FBI and local law enforcement is due to begin in four minutes.
Alaina Demopoulos
After clinching the title of top conservative podcast in America (and second overall news podcast, according to Apple’s ranking) in March, Charlie Kirk said: “We’re not just talking. We’re activating a revolution.”
In the hours after his killing at age 31 on the first stop of a buzzy college campus tour, the rightwing activist’s words echoed through young conservative circles. Social media eulogies rolled in, with users reposting clips of Kirk with his wife and children. Parents of teens wrote on X of learning about Kirk’s death through their children. “My 17 year old is bumming. Told me he plays Charlie in the background on his computer when he’s on it,” the conservative radio host Jesse Kelly wrote on X. Another X user wrote about speaking to teens at a church youth group: “Everyone I talked to is so distraught and heartbroken at his passing.”
A key figure in Donald Trump’s success, Kirk galvanized college-aged conservatives who moved in a different ecosystem from traditional media. The decade or so between Kirk’s beginnings as a teen activist and the shooting saw the rise of Maga politics alongside the shake-up of the conventional media landscape, with Kirk playing a crucial role in both.
Adam Pennings, 25, is the executive director of Run Gen Z, a non-profit that supports young Republican candidates. “He’s always just been such an important part” of the young conservative party, Pennings said of Kirk. “He was everywhere.”
Read more below
We’re due to hear from FBI officials and the Utah Department of Public Safety at a press conference shortly. We’re told that there will be a five minute warning ahead of it starting.
We’ll bring you the latest lines as it gets underway.
Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing identified as Tyler Robinson – reports
According to multiple reports, citing law enforcement sources, a suspect in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been identified as Tyler Robinson, 22, who is local to Utah.
We’re due to hear from FBI director Kash Patel and Utah officials shortly. We’ll bring you the latest lines as we have them.
Trump just described some of his conversation with Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, yesterday.
“She’s devastated,” Trump said. The president encouraged Erika to continue making statements following Kirk’s death. “Turning Point is a real power…I think they’re going to rally around together.”
Suspect taken into custody on Thursday – report
The New York Times is reporting that a man was taken into custody on Thursday at 11pm MT (the local time zone in Utah), by Utah state and local police.
The Times cites a law enforcement official, who requested anonymity to talk about the case.
They add that, allegedly, the man in question was arrested near Zion National Park – which is hundreds of miles away from the Utah Valley University campus.
FBI to hold press conference at 9am ET on Kirk Shooting
Brian Kilmeade, who is interviewing Donald Trump, just said on air that there will be a press conference at 9am ET with FBI director Kash Patel present.
Kilmeade goes on to say that he’s getting word that the shooter is “in custody, and he’s alive, and he was turned in by by a friends and family”. He didn’t elaborate on his sources.
‘I couldn’t care less’, Trump says about division within the country
The president, when asked about how we “fix the country” or “come back together” after Kirk’s shooting, says that he “couldn’t care less”.
“The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime. They don’t want to see crime, worried about the border,” Trump says. “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy”.
Trump advocates for death penalty for Kirk shooter
In his interview with Fox News, Trump just said that he hopes the shooter “gets the death penalty”.
“Charlie Kirk was the finest person,” Trump added. “He didn’t deserve this”.
Trump says National Guard troops to be deployed to Memphis
The president has just announced in his Fox News interview that he will be sending the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee.
He described the city as “deeply troubled” and vowed to “straighten that out”.
