Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old man who has ben charged for Charlie Kirk’s assassination, reportedly lived in Washington, near Utah Tech University’s campus.
On Sept. 10, American political activist and Turning Point USA CEO, Kirk, was killed at a public event he was hosting at Utah Valley University. This was the first stop on “The American Comeback” tour he had planned.
Who is the shooter?
Tyler James Robinson is enrolled in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College. He is a third-year student there and attended one semester at Utah State University in 2021. He also received concurrent enrollment credit through Utah Tech University while in high school from 2019 to 2021, according to an email from university President Shane Smeed.
Robinson’s mother first saw the photo of the shooter in the news the day after the incident and thought the shooter looked like her son.
Robinson’s father tried to reach out to him once he saw the similarities between the suspect and his son and recognized the rifle that was recovered by the authorities. Robinson would not answer, but, eventually, the parents got hold of him over the phone, where Robinson mentioned dying by suicide.
Robinson’s parents talked him into meeting them at their home in Washington County. When they discussed the situation there, Robinson implied that he was the shooter. They convinced him to turn himself in and told Robinson to speak with a family friend who is a pastor and court security officer.
After a 33-hour manhunt, Robinson was arrested Sept. 11 around 10 p.m. after turning himself in. He was booked into Utah County Jail.
What are his charges?
On Tuesday, the recently released documents said he faces charges of:
- aggravated murder
- felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury
- two counts of obstruction of justice
- two counts of witness tampering
- one misdemeanor count of violence committed in the presence of a child
Prosecutors also said that if Robinson is convicted, they will pursue the death penalty. The next hearing appointed by the court will be Sept. 29.
What was his motivation?
Kristin Schwiermann, one of Robinson’s neighbors who was interviewed by NPR, said: “It was a shock that it was him. I feel sorry for his mother and his dad because that’s not how they raised him.”
Past classmates have mixed opinions about him. One who was interviewed by TMZ said he was very smart and adapted socially to his environment.
“I can picture him laughing in class and having friends,” the interviewee said. “He wasn’t one of those kids that would sit in the corner or nothing like that.”
An Instagram user also claims to be one of his pasts classmates after showing the school yearbook.
“Best way I can describe him is just like… a ‘Reddit kid’,” said the Instagram user.
He said that the content he was consuming on the internet and the people he talked with online made his beliefs very extreme, which can cause him to do things to “please people that are not your friends,” as he described it.
The connection of Robinson engaging with internet culture can be found in the bullet casings that had the following inscriptions:
- “Notices, bulges, OwO what’s this?”
- “Hey fascist! Catch! ↑ → ↓↓↓”
- “Oh Bella, ciao, bella, ciao Bella ciao ciao ciao”
- “If you read this, you are gay LMAO”
To clarify, half of these inscriptions are related to anti-fascist content in the media. The arrows in the second cartridge are a reference to the video game “Helldivers 2,” which has a satirical take on fascism. The words on the third cartridge are associated with an Italian anti-fascist song.
The official charging documents released by the Utah County Attorney’s Office stated that Robinson’s political ideology resulted in several discussions with family members, especially with his father,.
In addition to that, in the document, his mother said that he had been getting more political over the last year, inclining more to leftist ideas.
Police interviewed Robinson’s roommate, with whom he was also romantically involved. His roommate showed police text messages that Robinson sent after the assassination.
“I had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” Robinson texted after being asked why he did it.
When his partner asked him how long he had been planning this for, he responded by saying that he had been preparing this for over a week.
He also talked the day before at a family dinner about his dislike for Kirk, and the hate that he promoted in his “Prove Me Wrong” events and social media.
What do Utah Tech University students think of this?
Javier Margalet Toulet, a continuing education major in the English as a Second Language program from Sevilla, Spain, said that he feels safe at the university even after the assassination at UVU.
“It was an event related to a political activist, so it doesn’t concern me as much,” Toulet said.
Iñigo Agustín Llorente, a freshman pre-engineering major from Madrid, Spain, also said that they feel safe at Utah Tech.
“I still feel safe walking around campus because I don’t see it happening here,” Llorente said.
While some students feel safe, others consider this situation something to be careful with.
Anthony Curatolo, a junior digital media major from Temecula, California, gave a different insight on the subject.
“I feel safe here, but finding out [about where Robinson lived] was scary,” Cuartolo said. “When the president [Smeed] sent out the email that he was attending Dixie Tech, I was shocked; I could have seen him around here at some point.”
