Charlie Kirk murder: What to know about his killer's alleged motives

The 22-year-old suspect arrested for killing Charlie Kirk “had a text message exchange … in which he claimed he had an ‘opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk’ and he was going to do it because of his hatred for what Charlie stood for,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.

Tyler James Robinson was arrested last week, a day after Kirk was fatally shot while on a tour to debate people on topics of their choosing across the country. Kirk was killed at 12:23 p.m. MT on the Utah Valley University campus. Following a large-scale manhunt and two initial suspects being released from custody, police shared images of a person of interest captured on video surveillance footage that led to Robinson’s arrest.

Speaking on Fox & Friends on Monday , Patel said that Robinson’s family has “collectively told investigators that he subscribed to left-wing ideology and even more so in these last couple of years.”

Friends and family members of Robinson said he had “become more political,” while co-workers said that he had “detached himself when the topic of politics came up,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino told Fox News .

“There appear to have been multiple warning signs,” said Bongino. Police believe that “ideology had infected him and had taken over.” He said evidence pointed to Kirk being the intended target and that “people knew in advance.”

He said authorities would be looking into if those around Robinson “were sure of this (possible assassination) or did they hear this and just write it off?”

Patel said that he “walked the entire crime scene” at the Utah university in the early evening of Sept. 11, following in the footsteps of the suspect.

He said there was DNA evidence collected, including from a screwdriver that was found on a rooftop and a towel found in the wooded area where the weapon, a rifle, allegedly belonging to the suspect was discovered.

“I can report today that the DNA hits from the towel that was wrapped around the firearm and the DNA on the screwdriver are positively processed for the suspect in custody,” said Patel.

The rifle is still being processed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Maryland, said Patel.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed that Robinson’s roommate was also his boyfriend who is “transitioning from male to female,” he told NBC News on Sunday . “That person has been very cooperative with authorities,” he said. He said that person was “shocked” to learn about Robinson’s alleged involvement in the killing and did not have any knowledge about what occurred.

Cox said more information about evidence collected would be available on Tuesday, when charges were expected to be laid. Meanwhile, he said that Robinson has not been cooperating with authorities “so far.”

Fox News had previously reported that Robinson lived with a transgender woman in an apartment in Saint George, UT and the two were in a “romantic relationship.” The publication said its sources were senior FBI officials. Patel reposted the article by Fox News on his X account on Sunday.

Although the relationship has not been directly linked to a possible motive, Kirk often debated people about transgender and LGBTQ+ issues. He referred to trans people as “sick” in 2023 on his show, according to Them, an LGBTQ+ publication .

In the moments before Kirk was shot, he was being asked about mass shooters and trans killers. Speaking to Fox News , Bongino said authorities were still investigating if there was any kind of connection between the person asking the question and the assassination.

“Charlie was known to speak out about these issues. He was a powerful voice. It’s not terribly uncommon for him to get questions like that,” he said. “However, we are looking into that, any potential connection here.”

He added that there would be no “stone left unturned if there was anyone involved who aided, abetted.”

The Utah governor described Robinson as a “a very normal young man, a very smart young man who attended his alma matter of Utah State University for a short amount of time. “He dropped out after less than one semester,” said Cox, speaking to NBC News.

Robinson’s radicalization, which the governor said occurred quickly, appeared to happen after he dropped out and moved back to the southern part of Utah.

“Clearly, there was a lot of gaming going on. Friends that have confirmed there was that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep. You saw that on the casings,” he said, referring to messages etched on the ammunition found in a rifle that allegedly belonged to Robinson.

According to the New York Times, Robinson was in a group chat with about 20 other people on messaging platform Discord. After Kirk’s assassination, some in the group joked that the killer could have been Robinson. The 22-year-old rebutted that it was his “doppelganger.”

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