This is a breaking story which will be updated as we learn more.
A suspect has been captured in the targeted killing of conservative political influencer Charlie Kirk.
The man in custody is Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah.
“We got him,” said Gov. Spencer Cox Friday morning, about 33 hours after the manhunt began.
Cox made the announcement standing beside FBI Director Kash Patel, Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith, Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls.
One of Robinson’s family members reached out to a family friend who then contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with “information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” Cox said. The tip was relayed to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office and investigators at Utah Valley University.
Robinson is currently booked in a Utah County jail after his family and a friend helped turn him in to authorities in Washington County. He’s being held without bail on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury and felony obstruction of justice.
“I want to thank the public who has been so engaged, reviewing videos, helping us with sending in tips, and helping us get to this point,” the governor said. “I want to thank the family members of Tyler Robinson, who did the right thing in this case and were able to bring him into law enforcement as well.”
Robinson lived in Washington City and was not a student at UVU. Utah State University confirmed Robinson was a student there for one semester in 2021.
Robinson is believed to have acted alone, and the investigation is ongoing, Cox said.
Kirk had been speaking outside in the courtyard at UVU’s Sorensen Center at an event hosted by the school’s chapter of Turning Point USA. It was the first in his 15-stop “American Comeback” tour. The shooter arrived on campus and climbed onto the roof of the Losee Center around noon, police said. A single shot was heard around 12:20 p.m. as Kirk spoke. He was struck in his neck as he answered a question about transgender people and mass shootings in America, according to reports.
Police say about 3,000 students and other spectators were in attendance.
The first FBI agents arrived on the scene at Utah Valley University some 16 minutes after Kirk was shot on Wednesday, Director Patel said at the briefing.
After the shooting, the shooter ran across the roof and then fled campus, which police released video of on Thursday night after releasing photos of the suspect. Police found a Mauser .30-caliber high-powered bolt-action rifle, wrapped in a towel, left in a wooded area.
“Just last night, the suspect was taken into custody at 10 p.m. local time,” Patel announced.
Police interviewed Robinson’s family members and his roommate. His family said Robinson had become more politically active in recent years. At one point before the shooting, Cox said in the briefing, Robinson told a family member that Kirk was coming to UVU.
Robinson reportedly said he didn’t like Kirk and his viewpoints.
Robinson’s roommate, Cox said, showed police a text conversation on the app Discord he’d had with him. Robinson talked about “needing to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving that rifle in a bush.” Those messages also referred to engraving bullets.
Cox said a fire casing was engraved with, “Notices Buldge OWO What’s this?”
There were also inscriptions on three unfired casings found with the rifle. One read, “hey fascist! CATCH!” and also had an up arrow symbol, right arrow and three down arrow symbols. A second read “O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, Ciao ciao.” And the third read, “if you read This, you are GAY LMAO.”
When a reporter asked how authorities were interpreting those, Cox said “I will leave up to you what those engravings mean.”
Robinson, Cox said, first arrived on the UVU campus around 8:29 a.m. in a grey Dodge Challenger.
Cox has previously said the state will pursue the death penalty in this case. The governor said Kirk’s family will be included as they pursue justice.
Earlier in the investigation, police had taken into custody two other persons of interest who were later released. It was confirmed they had no ties to the shooting. As of Friday morning, Patel said the FBI had received over 11,000 tips and leads.
To the governor, this is a watershed moment in American history.
“The question is what kind of watershed,” he said.
This is “much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals.”
To Cox, Kirk was politically assassinated as he exercised his freedom of expression. He believes that will “make it more difficult for people to feel like they can share their ideas, that they can speak freely.” Society won’t be able to solve other problems if people can’t safely share ideas, especially diverging viewpoints, he added.
Cox said he’s felt a lot of anger and sadness since the shooting, and was praying that the shooter was not a Utahn. But, “that prayer was not answered the way I had hoped for,” Cox said.
“To my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” Cox said. “But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path.”
“I think we need more moral clarity right now. I hear all the time that words are violence. Words are not violence. Violence is violence, and there is one person responsible for what happened here. And that person is now in custody and will be charged soon and will be held accountable.”
Cox said he still believes in this nation and believes there is more good than evil.
“History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country, but every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us, we get to make decisions.”
Almost immediately after Kirk’s shooting, graphic videos spread on social media. Cox said humans are not wired to be able to process that violent imagery, “it’s not good for us.” He encouraged Utahns to log off, “touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
