Tyler Robinson, who is accused of assassinating conservative influencer Charlie Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, has been formally charged with a slew of offenses, including aggravated murder, with prosecutors announcing the intent to seek the death penalty.
Robinson, 22, has also been charged with felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced on Tuesday.
Gray, who described Kirk’s death as “an American tragedy,” said he does not “take this decision lightly” in regard to seeking the death penalty for Robinson. The suspected shooter will continue to be held without bail.
Robinson is also scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday.Robinson was arrested last week for felony discharge of a firearm, aggravated murder and obstruction of justice, according to probable cause documents, and was booked into the Utah County Jail.Suspect allegedly confessed to killing Kirk, said there is ‘too much evil’Robinson was apprehended on the evening of Sept. 11 after his father recognized him in photographs released by authorities, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said last week.”Robinson’s father reported that when his wife showed him the surveillance image of the suspected shooter in the news, he agreed it looked like their son,” according to the charging documents.The suspect’s father also believed the rifle police “suspected the shooter used matched a rifle that was given to his son as a gift,” the charging documents said.Thus, his father reached out to the 22-year-old, asking him to “send a photo of the rifle,” to which Robinson did not respond, the charging documents said.
When his father called Robinson, he implied he planned to “take his own life,” with his parents convincing him to meet them at their home, the charging documents said.
“As they discussed the situation, Robinson implied that he was the shooter and stated that he couldn’t go to jail and just wanted to end it,” the charging documents said.
His parents then asked their son why he committed this crime, to which he said “there is too much evil and the guy [Charlie Kirk] spreads too much hate,” according to the charging documents.
The suspect’s parents urged Robinson to speak with a family friend who is a deputy sheriff, who convinced him to turn himself in, charging documents said.
Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin wrote a note saying he planned to “take him out”, Kash Patel, the FBI director, has said.In an interview with Fox News, Mr Patel said the note, allegedly written by Tyler Robinson, read: “I have the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”The FBI director, a Trump appointee who has faced mounting criticism over his handling of the case, said the note was found at Mr Robinson’s home that he shared with his partner, and had been written before the shooting.
We have since learnt the note – even though it was destroyed – we have found forensic evidence of the note and we have confirmed what the note said because of our aggressive interview posture at the FBI,” he added.
Kirk, 31, died after being shot in the throat while speaking to a crowd of 3,000 students at Utah Valley University last week.
On Friday, the FBI announced the arrest of Mr Robinson, 22, in connection with the killing
According to Mr Patel, the suspect had also sent a similar message over text.
He said: “He had a text message exchange with another individual in which he claimed that he had an opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and he was going to do it because of his hatred of what Charlie stood for.
Asked why the person receiving the text did not say anything, Mr Patel said: “We don’t have an answer on that yet.”
‘Shocking’ disclosures
The FBI director added that authorities had learnt some “shocking things when we spoke to his family and friends”.
His family has told investigators he subscribed to Left-wing ideology and even more so in the last couple of years,” he said.
Mr Patel added that there were more than 20 people in a group chat with Mr Robinson on the site Discord, but the FBI was having to go through legal steps to get access to them.
Kirk, a married father of two, was a co-founder of Turning Point USA, the conservative student group, and a staunch ally of Donald Trump.
Mr Robinson was arrested after someone close to his family recognised the FBI images and, along with the suspect’s father, convinced him to turn himself in.
The suspect is expected to be formally charged with murder by local prosecutors on Tuesday.
Donald Trump announced the arrest and called for the death penalty for the 22-year-old accused of assassinating his political ally.
Mr Patel also revealed that DNA was found on a towel and a rifle found by police in nearby woodland that matched the suspect.
He said Mr Robinson was not co-operating with authorities, echoing a statement by Spencer Cox, the Utah governor, at the weekend.
He has not confessed to authorities. He is not co-operating but all the people around him are co-operating. And I think that’s very important,” Mr Cox, a Republican, told ABC News.
Dan Bongino, the FBI’s deputy director, raised the possibility that Mr Robinson had an accomplice and said that the bureau was looking into whether any of his friends knew in advance he was planning murder.
“Did they … hear it and think it was a joke?” he told Fox News.
“That is what we’re trying to find out now”.
Mr Bongino said the FBI was looking into whether “there is a larger network here” and promised that “we will get that out to the public as soon as we can”.
In the interview, Mr Bongino said Mr Robinson had an “obsession” with Mr Kirk, based on the suspect’s digital trail that was still being examined.
There were “multiple warning signs” in Mr Robinson’s life, Mr Bongino said, adding that the suspect’s co-workers told investigator that when politics came up he would “walk away”.
Taking charge of the case
Meanwhile, Mr Patel has come under fire over handling of the case and has sought to make clear he has acted quickly and took charge.
He said: “If you look at historical cases like [Luigi] Mangione and the Boston [Marathon] bombing, those two manhunts took five days.
“We apprehended our suspect in 33 hours because we were transparent and open.
However, Mr Patel did acknowledge he could have “worded better” a post on X saying that a suspect had been taken into custody early in the investigation, only to correct himself 90 minutes later and say that the person had been released after being questioned.Mr Robinson reportedly confessed to the killing in an online Discord chat, hours before his arrest.According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Mr Robinson wrote: “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all.“It was me at UVU yesterday. I’m sorry for all of this.”Discord provided the message to authorities and is working closely with law enforcement, the WSJ said.AdvertisementA spokesman for Discord previously said there was “no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord”.Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.View comments(706)Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsAbout Our AdsSolve the daily Crossword26,596 people played the daily Crossword recently.
