Suspect in Charlie Kirk shooting identified as Tyler Robinson
Officials identified the person accused of having shot the conservative activist Charlie Kirk like Tyler Robinson, a 22 -year -old resident.
On Friday morning, the Governor of Utah said at a press conference that investigators arrested and identified Robinson after analyzing surveillance images, interviewed Robinson family members and examined online messages between Robinson and his roommate.
“As we got,” said Cox, standing with FBI director Kash Patel and other law enforcement officials.
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Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA and an influential voice in the Trump administration, was shot on Wednesday at an event at the University of Utah Valley, a public school south of Salt Lake City. His murder has launched a human hunt for several days among the local, state and federal authorities.
COX said that a member of Robinson’s family had contacted a family friend who had contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s office with information that Robinson had admitted to them or involved that he had committed the incident. According to Cox, the investigators interviewed a member of the Robinson family who said that he had “become more political in recent years”.
“The family member referred to a recent incident during which Robinson came to dine before September 10, and in the conversation with another family member, Robinson said that Charlie Kirk came to UVU,” said Cox. “They explained why they didn’t like him and the views he had.”
Cox said the investigators had interviewed Robinson’s roommate, who showed messages on the authorities on discord between Robinson and his roommate.
The messages associated with the name of Tyler State “a need to recover a rifle from a fall point, leaving the rifle in a bush,” engraving balls “, having left the rifle wrapped in a towel” and “a mention of a range and the unique rifle,” said Cox.
The authorities announced Thursday who had recovered a “high locking bolt rifle” in a wooded area right next to the university campus in conditions that correspond to Robinson’s messages.
Cox said the rifle was Mauser Model 9830 at six caliber, a 36 caliber bolt action rifle and had a telescope mounted on it. He added that the inscriptions engraved on blines found with the rifle.
One of the inscriptions had the lyrics of the Italian folk song “Bella Ciao,” said Cox. Another said “Hey fascists! Catch!” With an arrow up, a right arrow and three arrows down. A third said: “If you read this, you are Gay Lmao.”
According to Cox, registration on the licensed case said: “Opinion, Bulges, Owo, what is it?”
The governor added that the investigators also identified Robinson during the supervision of the University of Utah Valley – where Kirk was killed on Wednesday – which showed him at UVU at 8:29 a.m. in a Gray Dodge Challenger.
When the investigators arrested Robinson early on Friday, he “was observed in clothing consistent with these surveillance images,” said Cox.
The searches of NBC News in the national and national public archives associated with the name and date of birth of Robinson found no indication that the 22 -year -old children with a previous criminal record.
Public files indicate that the last date of registration of Robinson voters took place on July 13, 2021 and that his political party is not declared.
Robinson went to Utah State University for a semester in 2021, a university spokesperson confirmed NBC News.
The event in which Kirk was killed by bullet was organized by the chapter of the USA turning point school, a group that Kirk founded which organizes and mobilizes the young conservatives.
President Donald Trump, who announced Kirk’s death on Wednesday, was again the first to share that the suspect in Kirk’s murder was in detention on Friday morning.
“I think that, with a high degree of certainty, we have it-in detention … Everyone did an excellent job that we worked with the local police, the governor, everyone did an excellent job,” he said in an interview on Fox News.
Trump suggested that the suspect’s father transformed him into authorities.
“Someone who is near even recognizes a little tilt of the head, which no one else would do,” said Trump “and someone who was very close to him said” HM, it is him “and went essentially to see the father, went to see an American marshal.”
“And the father convinced the son,” that’s it “,” added Trump.
Trump warned several times throughout the interview that his information was preliminary, saying that he is “always subject to correcting”.
The video published by the authorities captured Thursday the person they described as the shooter who crosses the roof of a building and descended on a grassy area below. The person can then be seen pass in front of a parking lot to a very popular road.
Other published images show what seems to be a thin young man wearing a black sleeve t-shirt with an American flag on it, black sunglasses, an adidas hat, jeans and converse sneakers
The murder of Kirk has caused national indignation in recent days and a large condemnation of the political violence of the legislators on both sides of the aisle.
“This is certainly the tragic death, the assassination, the political assassination of Charlie Kirk,” said Cox, a republican. “But it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on us all. It is an attack on the American experience. It is an attack on our ideals.”
Turning Point USA did not publicly comment on the arrest or identification of the suspect.
In a statement on Thursday, Turning Point USA said that Kirk had faced “thousands” of threats throughout his life, but “always prioritized to reach as many young Americans as possible on his own personal security”.
“We will all miss Charlie,” said the group. “None of us will never forget it.”
