WASHINGTON, Sept 13 – Utah’s governor on Friday identified the suspect believed to have carried out the fatal shooting of American conservative commentator Charlie Kirk as Utah native Tyler Robinson.
“We got him,” Spencer Cox told reporters at a press conference following an over-24-hour manhunt. “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.”
Cox said one of Robinson’s family members, whom he did not identify, reached out to a family friend who informed the Washington County Sheriff’s Office that Robinson had “confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”
Cox said authorities currently believe that Robinson acted alone. He said the family member told investigators that Robinson had become “more political in recent years.”
“The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to Sept. 10, and in the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had. The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate,” he said, using an acronym to refer to Utah Valley University, the site of Wednesday’s shooting.
Found footage
US President Donald Trump earlier said the suspect’s father had played a pivotal role in Robinson’s arrest.
Robinson was taken into custody at 10 pm local time (0400GMT) Thursday, said FBI Director Kash Patel.
Cox said investigators combed through security camera footage from the university, where the shooting took place on Wednesday, and found footage that appears to show Robinson arriving on campus earlier in the morning.
The footage showed Robinson in a maroon t-shirt, light-colored shorts, a black hat, and light-colored shoes. The clothing matched the outfit worn by Robinson when he was taken into custody.
Cox said authorities retrieved a Mauser model 98 .36 caliber bolt-action rifle along with casings that had inscriptions on them.
He said: “Inscriptions on a fired casing read, ‘notices, bulges, OWO, what’s this?’ Inscriptions on the three unfired casings read, ‘Hey, fascist! Catch! Up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol and three down arrow symbols. A second unfired casing. Read, ‘Oh, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Ciao, Ciao. And a third unfired casing read, ‘if you read this, you are gay LMAO’.”
