Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer arrested after confessing to father

A 22 -year -old from Utah was arrested for the murder of right -wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead during a university event earlier this week.

Tyler Robinson was placed in police custody late Thursday, after a 33 -hour man hunt that ended after his father helped persuade him to go to the police.

His arrest was announced for the first time by US President Donald Trump, who asked the suspect to face the death penalty.

The murder of Kirk, which was shot dead while debating students on Wednesday, shocked the Americans and exposed the country’s net support divisions.

Investigators said on Friday at a press conference that the suspect had confessed to his father and said that he prefers to commit suicide than to surrender. The father then called a young pastor who is a friend of the family.

The two men tried to calm the suspect, police said. The pastor, who is also responsible for the security of the court, then called the American marshals, who held the suspect around 10:00 p.m. on Thursday.

UTAH governor Spencer Cox said that surveillance images have shown that Robinson was arriving on the University of Utah Valley campus for about four hours before a gunshot lights up, killing Kirk and sending students in execution.

Cox told journalists that when Mr. Robinson was placed in police custody, he wore clothes similar to what was seen on video surveillance cameras at the shooting.

The governor added that the investigators had interviewed a family member, who said the suspect had become more political in recent years.

Cox said that the family member had spoken of a recent incident when Mr. Robinson had mentioned that Kirk was coming to Utah and that he “was full of hatred and dissemination of hatred”.

COX said that the investigators also spoke to a suspect roommate who had shown them exchanges of messages with a account named “Tyler” on the Discord messaging application.

The messages referred to the need to recover a rifle from “a fall point” and the firearm being left in a bush, wrapped in a towel.

The FBI said on Thursday that they had found the suspected weapon – an imported Boulon .30-06 action rifle – wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near the campus.

Cox told journalists that inscriptions had been found engraved on blines recovered with the rifle, which had a telescope mounted on it.

The inscriptions included “hey fascist! Catch!” And “O Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao”.

“Bella Ciao” means “goodbye beautiful” in Italian. It is also the title of a song dedicated to the Italian resistance which fought against the occupying troops of Nazi Germany.

The Governor of Utah said he was not aware of any other potential arrest in the investigation.

State prosecutors said they were planning to file an official complaint against Mr. Robinson on Tuesday.

He is accused of aggravated murder, of obstruction of justice and the release of a crime of a firearm, according to a reservation sheet of prisoners of the sheriff of the county of Utah obtained by the BBC.

Students at the University of Utah Valley told the BBC that they were relieved to hear about the arrest.

The campus is closed from the shooting on Wednesday afternoon – with yellow adhesive tape and police vehicles blocking much of the school.

“It was arrested in Washington County, where I come from,” said first -year student McKinley Shinkle. “I’m just ashamed a lot.”

“I am definitely relieved,” added the cousin of McKinley Anthony. “I’m just worried now to hear his motivations and why it happened.”

The public archives considered by the BBC suggest that Mr. Robinson had registered as an unat -affiliated – or non -partisan elector in the UTAH in the past. Matthew Carl Robinson, the suspect’s father, and Amber Denise Robinson, the mother of the suspect, are registered Republicans, according to state files.

The voting files indicate that he did not vote in the last presidential election, according to CBS News, the American partner of the BBC. It was not old enough to vote in 2020.

The suspect lives in St George, Utah, near Zion National Park, about 250 miles (400 km) southwest of the campus where Kirk was shot.

He is a third-year student in an electrical learning program at the Dixie Technical College in southwest Utah, where he lived, a spokesman for UTAH Valley University (UVU) told the BBC.

Social media accounts indicate that Mr. Robinson’s father manages a kitchen counter and an installation company, while his mother is a social worker. The family is Mormon and active in the local church.