What We Know About Tyler Robinson, Suspect in Charlie Kirk Shooting

The suspect, 22, was arrested in southwestern Utah after a friend had contacted the authorities, officials said.

The suspect arrested in the assassination of Charlie Kirk is believed to have acted alone, was apprehended with assistance from his family and left messages in the ammunition found with the gun that was used, officials said on Friday.

The arrest of the suspect, Tyler Robinson, 22, ended a two-day manhunt after Mr. Kirk, a conservative activist and Trump ally, was fatally shot during a speaking appearance at Utah Valley University.

Here’s what we know about the suspect so far:

Officials believe the suspect acted alone.

The suspect was taken into custody at about 11 p.m. on Thursday in Washington County, in southwestern Utah, about 250 miles from the campus of Utah Valley University, after surrendering at a sheriff’s office, officials said.

“When our investigators got down there, they were able to peacefully make contact with him and move through that process of making the arrest,” Beau Mason, Utah’s public safety commissioner, said in an interview. “He was very compliant with that.”

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm and obstruction of justice, all felonies, according to an affidavit filed in court. Officials say they believe he acted alone. He had not been convicted of any crimes in the past, according to court records.

He had grown up in St. George, a conservative city in Washington County, Utah. Mr. Robinson appeared to excel academically as a teenager, taking college-level classes in high school and receiving a scholarship to Utah State University. Neighbors and former classmates described him as withdrawn and shy.

Utah State University, roughly two hours from the university where the shooting took place, said that the suspect attended the school for one semester in 2021. A spokeswoman added that he was a pre-engineering major and took classes consistent with that major. Dixie Technical College in St. George said he had been a third-year student in an electrical apprentice program.

A relative of Mr. Robinson’s described him as growing “more political in recent years,” according to a court affidavit written by a police officer. He was listed in Utah voting records as unaffiliated with a political party, though his parents are registered Republicans and both had active gun licenses. The voting records noted that he was considered “inactive,” suggesting that he did not vote in the November presidential election, the first since he turned 18.

His family thought he might have been the gunman.

Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah said on Friday that a family member of the suspect contacted a family friend after the shooting. That friend then got in touch with a sheriff’s office and told officers that the suspect had confessed, or suggested that he killed Mr. Kirk.

Mr. Mason, Utah’s public safety commissioner, said that the suspect’s family “did a great job of helping him come to a positive resolution to turn himself in.”

Earlier on Friday, misinformation circulated suggesting that the suspect was related to law enforcement officials in Washington County, but the county attorney’s office debunked the notion in a statement.

The authorities said they had extensive evidence that tied the suspect to the killing, including statements to relatives suggesting that he committed the crime, social media messages and physical evidence.

Video surveillance footage from Utah Valley University showed the suspect arriving near the campus in a Dodge Challenger on Wednesday morning, about four hours before the attack, officials said. Neighbors at an apartment complex in St. George where he lived said he kept a gray Dodge Challenger in the parking lot.

Officials say the cartridges found with the gun contained messages.

The authorities said the cartridges found with the gun that they said the suspect used to kill Mr. Kirk also had written messages on them.

One of those cartridges contained the words “Bella ciao,” Mr. Cox said on Friday. That is an apparent reference to an Italian antifascist song.

Mr. Cox said that an engraving on an unfired cartridge read, “Hey, fascist! Catch!” Another message said, “If you read this, you are gay LMAO,” an abbreviation for “laughing my ass off.”

The messages cited by officials also include apparent references to online culture and gaming. “Up arrow, right arrow, and three down arrow symbols,” as described by Mr. Cox, appears to refer to a sequence of moves on a controller that release a bomb in the video game Helldivers 2. Another engraving, “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?” is a phrase used for trolling in online role-playing communities.

Glenn Thrush, Kellen Browning, Ken Bensinger, Orlando Mayorquín and Sabrina Tavernise contributed reporting.

Related Content