Utah County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Tyler Robinson within the taking pictures demise of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley College, a homicide officers say was politically motivated. They intend to hunt the demise penalty.
Utah County Lawyer Jeff Grey introduced the indictment at a noon information convention, itemizing prices of aggravated homicide, felony discharge of a firearm inflicting critical bodily damage, and fee of a violent offense within the presence of a kid. Robinson, 22, can be charged with two counts of obstruction and two counts of witness tampering.
“Charlie Kirk was murdered whereas participating in one in every of our most sacred and cherished American rights,” Grey mentioned. “The bedrock of our democratic republic is the free trade of concepts in a seek for reality, understanding, and a extra good union.”
Grey mentioned that the homicide was thought-about an aggravated offense as a result of it was believed to be motivated by the sufferer’s political expression. On the matter of the demise penalty, he added: “I don’t take this resolution evenly, and it’s a resolution I’ve made independently as county legal professional based mostly solely on the accessible proof and circumstances and nature of the crime.”
Robinson will make his first court docket look at 3 pm MST on Tuesday.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on September 10 whereas taking questions from college students. The cofounder of Turning Level USA, he was credited with galvanizing younger conservatives and enjoying a pivotal function in Donald Trump’s 2024 White Home return.
The taking pictures sparked chaos on campus, the place delayed and contradictory emergency alerts left many college students and college scrambling in confusion. Vigils for Kirk have since been held in Arizona, New York, and Washington, amongst different states. Throughout the US, Kirk’s homicide has grow to be each a rallying cry for far-right retribution and gasoline for an assault on civil society.
Investigators declare forensic proof hyperlinks Robinson to the taking pictures, with FBI director Kash Patel telling Fox & Pals that matching DNA was discovered on a towel wrapped across the rifle and on a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop the place the deadly shot was fired. Patel additionally mentioned investigators imagine Robinson wrote a word of his alleged intent to kill Kirk, bolstering claims the assault was premeditated.
An indictment launched Tuesday provides vivid particulars to the allegations. Prosecutors say surveillance footage captured Robinson climbing onto a campus rooftop, mendacity inclined in a “sniper place,” and firing from practically 160 yards away. Investigators recovered cartridges on the scene with hand-engraved messages, which prosecutors argue factors to premeditation and motive.
Prosecutors additionally cited interviews with Robinson’s mother and father and roommate, who mentioned he expressed anger that Kirk “spreads an excessive amount of hate” and admitted he had “sufficient of his hatred.” The submitting additional alleges that Robinson instructed his roommate to remain silent if approached by police and that kids had been seen close to the stage when Kirk was shot—elements prosecutors say aggravated the seriousness of the crime.
The indictment recounts an interview with Robinson’s mom, who instructed investigators her son had grown extra political prior to now yr “and had began to lean extra to the left,” the indictment claims, citing “pro-gay” and “trans-rights” views. She described him as turning into more and more consumed by on-line debates and grievances, noting his fixation with political matters appeared to accentuate within the weeks main as much as the taking pictures, the indictment says. She added that Robinson had additionally begun so far his roommate, a transgender girl, including that his father has “very totally different political opinions.”
