Who is Tyler Robinson? What we know about the man who allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk

The suspect arrested in connection with the assassination of Charlie Kirk had told family that he didn’t like the conservative activist “and the viewpoints he had,” authorities said Friday at a press conference.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm, and obstruction of justice charges, according to a court affidavit. A judge ordered that he be held without bail. Formal charges are expected early next week.

Kirk, 31, was assassinated on Thursday as he spoke to students gathered in the courtyard of the Utah Valley University in Orem.

On Thursday evening, a family member reached out to a family friend who contacted law enforcement with information that Robinson “had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” said Utah Governor Spencer Cox said at a press conference on Friday.

“We got him,” Cox said, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump appeared on Fox & Friends and said a suspect had been arrested.

Robinson’s father recognized his son in surveillance photos and encouraged him to surrender, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. He refused at first, but then changed his mind, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. His father reached out for help to a youth pastor, who helped Robinson turn himself in.

Robinson had become “more political” in the run-up to the shooting, his family told officials. An unnamed family member “also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate,” Cox said.

Robinson’s father Matt Robinson reportedly owns a construction company and is a retired police officer, and his mother Amber Jones Robinson works for Intermountain Support Coordination Services, a state-funded effort to help disabled people.

Social media for the family shows Tyler Robinson with two younger brothers.

There is a picture of him in a dorm room at Utah State University where he studied in 2021. The school said in a statement he attended for one semester. More recently he reportedly has been enrolled at an electrician apprentice program at a technical college in St. George, Utah.

Utah state records say Robinson was registered as a voter but not affiliated with either political party.

The family lives in Washington, a suburb of St. George in southern Utah, more than 400 kilometres south of the site of the shooting.

The family’s social media accounts also show images of Robinson posing with guns, including a large calibre machine gun, as he sits on the ground in front of a military styled vehicle, while a man in military fatigues holds another automatic weapon beside him. In another, he is pictured holding a rocket launcher on is shoulder.

Robinson has no affiliation with the military, officials from all the military services have confirmed.

A 2017 Halloween costume shows him seeming to ride on the shoulders of a short Trump, with the Trump mask between his legs. Others show normal seeming family scenes: in a mortarboard and gown with his mother at his 2021 high school graduation, eating sushi and noodles with his father, on a trip to Alaska.

Cox, a Republican, called Kirk’s killing an “attack on the American experiment,” and he urged a new generation to “choose a different path.”

Robinson is believed to have acted alone, and the investigation is ongoing, Cox said.

The first FBI agents arrived on the scene at Utah Valley University some 16 minutes after Kirk was shot on Wednesday, Patel said at the news conference.

The bureau released the first photos of the suspect on Thursday morning, followed by the announcement of a cash reward and then the release of video of the suspect climbing down from the roof of a campus building and running away.

“Just last night, the suspect was taken into custody at 10 p.m. local time,” FBI director Kash Patel announced.

Cox said that a bolt action rifle with a scope mount was found wrapped in a dark towel and there were inscriptions on the bullet casings.

The one that was fired said: “notices bulges OWO what’s this?”

There were also engravings on three unfired casings. One read, “hey fascist! catch!” with an up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols. Another one read: “oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao,” Cox said. The third fired casing read: “if you read this you are gay lmao.”

“I will leave that up to you to interpret what those engravings mean,” Cox said later in response to a question from the media. He added that “hey fascist! catch!” is the clearest one and “speaks for itself.”

Cox said investigators also spoke to Robinson’s roommate who revealed Discord messages that were sent from an account with the name “Tyler.” The messages spoke about a drop point for a rifle and a change of outfits.

Cox thanked law enforcement and the public for their help in catching the suspect, including the Robinson family members, who “did the right thing.”

“I especially want to thank the family of Charlie Kirk,” he said. “I want us to be thinking of them as we bring justice to this case.”

Trump revealed earlier in Friday that authorities had arrested a suspect.

“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him in custody,” the U.S. president said on Fox & Friends after he was asked if there had been any developments in the assassination of the Conservative activist in Utah.

Trump said the information was made available to him five minutes before he was set to appear on the Fox show. He said he hopes the killer gets the death penalty.

“Kirk was the finest person and he didn’t deserve this,” the U.S. president said, adding that Kirk was like a son to him.

The 31-year-old activist was killed by a single shot on Wednesday in a “targeted attack” that the governor of Utah called a political assassination. The suspected gunman fired from a rooftop, investigators said.

Kirk was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit political organization. At the time of the fatal incident, he was speaking at a debate at Utah Valley University. He was shot in broad daylight on the university campus and pronounced dead at a hospital a few hours later.

Kirk’s casket was flown on Air Force Two and arrived in Phoenix Thursday night. Vice president JD Vance helped carry the casket alongside other uniformed service personnel. Vance’s wife Usha Vance stepped off the plane holding the hand of Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk.

Vance talked about his friendship with Kirk that began in 2017 when Kirk sent a message to Vance on X after his appearance on the Tucker Carlson show. He “told me I did a great job … and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today,” Vance posted online on Wednesday.

National Post, with additional reporting from The Associated Press

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