Tyler Robinson charged with Charlie Kirk’s murder, faces death penalty
The authorities say the suspect’s DNA was found on the trigger of the gun used to kill the conservative activist and Trump ally
Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man charged with murder on Tuesday in the shooting of Charlie Kirk, sent a text message confessing to his partner and hid a note beforehand saying he had the chance to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices “and I’m going to take it”, a prosecutor said.
DNA on the trigger of the rifle that killed Kirk also matched that of Robinson, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said while outlining the evidence and announcing charges that could result in the death penalty if Robinson is convicted.
The prosecutor said Robinson wrote in one text that he spent more than a week planning the attack on Kirk, a prominent force in politics credited with energising the Republican youth movement and helping Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk is an American tragedy,” Gray said.
Kirk was gunned down on September 10 while speaking with students at Utah Valley University. Prosecutors allege Robinson shot Kirk in the neck with a bolt-action rifle from the roof of a nearby building on the campus in Orem, about 64km (40 miles) south of Salt Lake City.
Robinson appeared briefly on Tuesday before a judge by video from jail. He nodded slightly at times but mostly stared straight ahead as the judge read the charges against him and appointed a lawyer to represent him. Robinson’s family has declined to comment to Associated Press since his arrest.