Charlie Kirk’s Killer Identified — Everything We Know

[00:00] Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We

[00:02] got him.

[00:03] >> The words that everyone has been waiting

[00:05] to hear. We are following breaking news.

[00:07] This is the mug shot of the 22-year-old

[00:10] man who authorities say killed

[00:11] conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

[00:14] Tyler Robinson is his name and he was

[00:16] arrested overnight roughly 3 hours south

[00:19] of where he allegedly fired that shot

[00:21] that killed Kirk in front of thousands

[00:23] of people as he was speaking at Utah

[00:26] Valley University in Oram, Utah as part

[00:29] of a college tour. I'll tell you how

[00:31] Robinson's family knew that they were

[00:33] living with the person now accused of a

[00:35] horrifying assassination. This is a

[00:38] breaking news edition of On the Case

[00:39] presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris

[00:42] Stewart.

[00:46] [Music]

[00:48] Well, first off, a major sigh of relief

[00:51] right now that this suspect is in

[00:53] custody. This arrest being made

[00:55] overnight. Let's get into what we know

[00:57] about 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.

[01:00] Robinson lives in Washington County,

[01:03] Utah. It's in the southwestern part of

[01:05] the state of Utah. It's roughly 3 hours

[01:07] south of where he allegedly killed

[01:09] Charlie Kirk. as Kirk was speaking on

[01:12] his college tour at Utah Valley

[01:14] University in front of thousands of

[01:16] people. Now, I'll talk about how

[01:18] Robinson allegedly escaped initially,

[01:20] according to authorities. We'll get into

[01:22] that in just a moment, but I want to get

[01:23] into some of the things that we've

[01:24] learned about how this arrest went down.

[01:27] Utah Governor Spencer Cox spoke this

[01:29] morning saying it was Robinson's family

[01:32] that ended up turning Robinson in. They

[01:35] say that Tyler Robinson, this

[01:37] 22-year-old, had become more political

[01:39] in recent years. And family members said

[01:41] that he openly spoke about Charlie Kirk.

[01:43] He openly spoke about not liking Charlie

[01:45] Kirk and his views. In fact, at a dinner

[01:48] recently before September 10th when this

[01:50] shooting happened, he had mentioned that

[01:53] Charlie Kirk was going to be at Utah

[01:55] Valley University on his campus tour.

[01:58] Now, these are pictures that law

[01:59] enforcement put out yesterday in hopes

[02:01] that someone would realize who killed

[02:03] Charlie Kirk. And that tactic appears to

[02:05] have worked because Robinson's family

[02:07] looked at these images and they realized

[02:09] that Tyler Robinson was potentially the

[02:12] person who did this. And according to

[02:14] the FBI, Tyler's family confronted him.

[02:16] Then with the help of a friend and asked

[02:19] whether he was the person who did this.

[02:21] And after that, with the help of a

[02:23] friend, President Trump said it was a

[02:25] minister, they took Tyler Robinson to

[02:27] the police station in Washington County,

[02:29] Utah, so he could face charges for the

[02:31] murder of Charlie Kirk. Now, here is

[02:34] what Utah Governor Spencer Cox said

[02:36] about that.

[02:37] >> On the evening of September 11th, a

[02:40] family member of Tyler Robinson reached

[02:42] out to a family friend who contacted the

[02:45] Washington County Sheriff's Office with

[02:47] information that Robinson had confessed

[02:49] to them or implied that he had committed

[02:52] the incident. This information was

[02:54] relayed to the Utah County Sheriff's

[02:56] Office and scene investigators at Utah

[02:58] Valley University. This information was

[03:00] also conveyed to the FBI. Investigators

[03:04] reviewed additional f video footage from

[03:07] UVU surveillance and identified Robinson

[03:09] arriving on UVU campus in a gray Dodge

[03:12] Challenger at approximately 8:29 a.m. on

[03:16] September 10th in which he is observed

[03:18] on video in a plain maroon t-shirt,

[03:21] light colored shorts, a black hat with a

[03:23] white logo, and light colored shoes.

[03:26] When encountered in person by

[03:28] investigators in Washington County on

[03:29] September 12th in the early morning

[03:31] hours, Robinson was observed in

[03:33] consistent clothing with those

[03:35] surveillance images. Investigators

[03:39] interviewed a family member of Robinson

[03:40] who stated that Robinson had become more

[03:43] political in recent years. The family

[03:45] member referenced a recent incident in

[03:47] which Robinson came to dinner prior to

[03:50] September 10th. And in the conversation

[03:52] with another family member, Robinson

[03:55] mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to

[03:57] UVU. They talked about why they didn't

[03:59] like him and the viewpoints that he had.

[04:02] The family member also stated Kirk was

[04:04] full of hate and spreading hate. The

[04:07] family member also confirmed Robinson

[04:09] had a gray Dodge Challenger. So, here's

[04:11] the video that was released last night

[04:13] that allegedly shows Robinson escaping

[04:15] after the shooting. A huge question was

[04:17] how could he get away and how could he

[04:19] get hours away after doing this?

[04:22] Remember, police say that he fired the

[04:24] shot that killed Charlie Kirk from the

[04:26] top of a building on campus. He was

[04:28] about 200 yards away, fired a single

[04:31] shot with a high-powered boltaction

[04:33] rifle, and that rifle had a scope.

[04:35] Robinson then jumped from that building.

[04:37] He ran into a wooded area and he left

[04:40] that rifle behind, which the FBI has,

[04:42] and they handed that over to their crime

[04:44] lab. Governor Spencer Cox says

[04:45] eventually Robinson got back to the

[04:48] Dodge Challenger that he drove to campus

[04:50] that day and he drove away from Oram,

[04:53] Utah. And they say they were able to

[04:55] track him going south back to his home

[04:58] in Washington County, Utah. Now, another

[05:00] key piece of evidence is the digital

[05:02] footprint that Robinson appears to have

[05:04] left behind because Governor Cox also

[05:06] said that Robinson talked online on the

[05:09] platform Discord about picking up a

[05:11] boltaction rifle with a scope with other

[05:14] users. Now, Cox does believe that

[05:15] Robinson acted alone and no more arrests

[05:18] are expected at this time. We did notice

[05:20] in the social media pictures that we

[05:22] have found for Robinson that he appears

[05:25] to be wearing the same Converse shoes

[05:27] that the FBI talked about when they

[05:29] released pictures to the public saying

[05:31] that he was wearing Converses with white

[05:33] souls. And you can see the comparison

[05:34] right there. Now, it is clear that this

[05:37] alleged attack was politically

[05:38] motivated. But it's not just because of

[05:40] who Charlie Kirk was. this major voice

[05:42] for young conservatives in this country

[05:44] who would draw major crowds, thousands

[05:46] of people to hear him speak and debate

[05:49] others, but politically motivated

[05:51] because of what was inscribed on the

[05:53] bullets that were found inside the

[05:55] high-powered boltaction rifle that the

[05:57] FBI says that Robinson left behind. Now,

[06:01] on those bullets, there were several

[06:03] messages that included one that said,

[06:06] "Hey, fascist catch." And there was

[06:08] another that said, quote, "If you read

[06:10] this, you are gay. L M AO." Now, here's

[06:14] more of what investigators have detailed

[06:16] about the bullets and the gun. Spencer

[06:18] Cox, the governor of Utah, speaking at

[06:21] that news conference this morning. So,

[06:23] the area north of Campus Drive Road,

[06:25] where the suspect crossed over, you saw

[06:27] some of that in the video that we

[06:28] released last night, consists of a

[06:30] grassy area with trees on the edge of

[06:32] the UVU campus. Investigators discovered

[06:35] a bolt-action rifle wrapped in a dark

[06:38] colored towel. The rifle was determined

[06:40] to be a Mouser model 9830 6 caliber 306

[06:44] caliber boltaction rifle. The rifle had

[06:47] a scope mounted on top of it.

[06:49] Investigators noted inscriptions that

[06:51] had been engraved on casings found with

[06:54] the rifle. Inscriptions on a fired

[06:57] casing read, "Notices bulges capital O.

[07:02] What's this question mark? Inscriptions

[07:05] on the three unfired casings read, "Hey,

[07:08] fascist exclamation point, catch

[07:11] exclamation point, up arrow symbol,

[07:14] right arrow, and uh symbol, and three

[07:17] down arrow symbols." A second unfired

[07:20] casing read, "O Bella Chow, Bellachchow,

[07:23] Bella Chow, Chow Chow." And a third

[07:26] unfired casing read, "If you read this,

[07:28] you are gay." L M A O. It is important

[07:32] to note that the death penalty is legal

[07:34] in Utah. It's also legal in the federal

[07:37] government. And Governor Cox has said

[07:39] this will be a death penalty case.

[07:41] Here's more of that news conference that

[07:42] happened this morning announcing the

[07:44] arrest of Tyler Robinson, now the

[07:46] accused killer of conservative

[07:48] influencer Charlie Kirk. We got him.

[07:51] On the evening of September 11th, a

[07:54] family member of Tyler Robinson reached

[07:56] out to a family friend who contacted the

[07:59] Washington County Sheriff's Office with

[08:01] information that Robinson had confessed

[08:03] to them or implied that he had committed

[08:06] the incident. This information was

[08:08] relayed to the Utah County Sheriff's

[08:10] Office and scene investigators at Utah

[08:12] Valley University. This information was

[08:15] also conveyed to the FBI. Investigators

[08:18] reviewed additional f video footage from

[08:21] UVU surveillance and identified Robinson

[08:24] arriving on UVU campus in a gray Dodge

[08:26] Challenger at approximately 8:29 a.m. on

[08:30] September 10th in which he is observed

[08:32] on video in a plain maroon t-shirt,

[08:35] light colored shorts, a black hat with a

[08:38] white logo, and light colored shoes.

[08:40] When encountered in person by

[08:42] investigators in Washington County on

[08:44] September 12th in the early morning

[08:45] hours, Robinson was observed in

[08:48] consistent clothing with those

[08:50] surveillance images. Investigators

[08:53] interviewed a family member of Robinson

[08:55] who stated that Robinson had become more

[08:57] political in recent years. The family

[08:59] member referenced a recent incident in

[09:02] which Robinson came to dinner prior to

[09:04] September 10th. And in the conversation

[09:07] with another family member, Robinson

[09:09] mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to

[09:11] UVU. They talked about why they didn't

[09:14] like him and the viewpoints that he had.

[09:16] The family member also stated Kirk was

[09:18] full of hate and spreading hate. The

[09:21] family member also confirmed Robinson

[09:23] had a gray Dodge Challenger. various

[09:26] messages, including content of messages

[09:28] between the phone contact named Tyler

[09:31] with an emoji icon and Robinson's

[09:34] roommate's device. The content of these

[09:36] messages included messages affiliated

[09:40] with the contact Tyler stating a need to

[09:42] retrieve a rifle from a drop point,

[09:46] leaving the rifle in a bush, messages

[09:48] related to a to visually watching the

[09:51] area where a rifle was left, and a

[09:54] message referring to having left the

[09:56] rifle wrapped in a towel. The messages

[10:00] also refer to engraving bullets and a

[10:03] mention of a scope and the rifle being

[10:06] unique. Messages from the contact Tyler

[10:10] also mentioned that he had changed

[10:12] outfits.

[10:15] I know there has been speculation as

[10:17] well as to uh the the writing on those

[10:21] casings,

[10:23] those those uh those bullet casings. And

[10:27] uh I believe we have that as well and I

[10:30] I will share that with you now.

[10:35] So the area north of Campus Drive Road

[10:37] where the suspect crossed over, you saw

[10:40] some of that in the video that we

[10:41] released last night consists of a grassy

[10:43] area with trees on the edge of the UVU

[10:46] campus. Investigators discovered a

[10:48] bolt-action rifle wrapped in a dark

[10:50] colored towel. The rifle was determined

[10:53] to be a Mouser model 98 3006 caliber 306

[10:57] caliber boltaction rifle. The rifle had

[10:59] a scope mounted on top of it.

[11:01] Investigators noted inscriptions that

[11:03] had been engraved on casings found with

[11:06] the rifle. Inscriptions on a fired

[11:09] casing read notices bulges capital O.

[11:15] What's this question mark? Inscriptions

[11:17] on the three unfired casings read, "Hey,

[11:20] fascist exclamation point, catch

[11:23] exclamation point." Up arrow symbol,

[11:26] right arrow, and uh symbol, and three

[11:29] down arrow symbols. A second unfired

[11:32] casing read, "O Bella Chow, Bellachchow,

[11:35] Bellachchow, Chow Chow." And a third

[11:38] unfired casing read, "If you read this,

[11:41] you are gay." L M AO.

[11:46] We are indebted to law enforcement uh

[11:50] across the state who has worked

[11:52] seamlessly together, local law

[11:54] enforcement, state law enforcement, and

[11:56] our federal partners with the uh with

[11:58] the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

[12:00] We're grateful for everyone who worked

[12:02] together in uh in in such a short amount

[12:05] of time to uh to find this person and to

[12:10] uh and to bring justice. I want to thank

[12:13] the public who has been so engaged

[12:15] reviewing uh reviewing videos, re

[12:18] helping us with uh sending in tips and

[12:21] uh helping us get to this point.

[12:23] I want to thank uh the uh the family

[12:26] members of Tyler Robinson who did the

[12:29] right thing in this case and were able

[12:31] to uh to bring him into uh to law

[12:34] enforcement as well.

[12:37] I especially want to thank the family of

[12:42] Charlie Kirk, uh Erica, um Charlie's

[12:46] parents, his children. I want us to be

[12:49] thinking of them as we bring justice in

[12:52] this case. Um they will be involved in

[12:54] that justice. Uh we will be working very

[12:57] closely with them as we move through

[12:59] this process as well. This is a a very

[13:03] sad day for again for our country. Uh a

[13:06] terrible day for the state of Utah, but

[13:09] I'm grateful that at this moment we have

[13:12] an opportunity to bring closure to this

[13:14] very dark chapter in our nation's

[13:16] history.

[13:18] With that, I will now turn the uh turn

[13:20] the microphone over to the director of

[13:22] the FBI, Cash Patel.

[13:28] >> Thank you, Governor.

[13:31] This is what happens when you let good

[13:32] cops be cops.

[13:34] The FBI and our partners are proud to

[13:36] stand here today together to bring

[13:38] justice to the family of Charlie Kirk

[13:40] and honor his memory. I want to express

[13:42] my deep gratitude to President Trump,

[13:45] the vice president, and the entire White

[13:46] House who have been so incredibly

[13:47] supportive with both resources and just

[13:50] personally to the FBI as a team. They

[13:52] had our backs the entire way. And I just

[13:54] want to express my gratitude for giving

[13:56] us the resources we need to operate in

[13:58] this space to bring this sort of justice

[14:00] at this sort of speed. In 33 hours, we

[14:04] have made historic progress for Charlie.

[14:07] Governor Cox, our partnership has been

[14:11] absolutely incredible these last few

[14:13] days. Our partnership will endure. your

[14:16] state and local partners, your sheriffs,

[14:18] your DPS community has been unbelievably

[14:21] impressive in the hardest of times and a

[14:24] case like this cannot be solved, cannot

[14:26] be brought without partnering with your

[14:28] state and local authorities. The FBI has

[14:30] a certain role to play and we will play

[14:32] that role. Um, and we will lead out for

[14:34] the federal government. But Governor

[14:35] Cox, we are so grateful for your state

[14:37] partnership that led out on this

[14:39] investigation.

[14:41] A little bit of the timeline.

[14:43] Charlie was shot at 12:23 p.m. on

[14:46] Wednesday. The first FBI agents on

[14:48] arrived on scene in 16 minutes with

[14:51] chiefs of police at 12:39 and secured

[14:54] the scene. The FBI immediately launched

[14:57] fixedwing assets. We utilize these

[15:00] assets to transport personnel, specialty

[15:03] technicians, hostage rescue teams. We

[15:05] also utilize these assets to go back and

[15:07] forth from the east coast and here in

[15:09] Utah to transport forensic evidence and

[15:11] other evidence that will be analyzed and

[15:12] is being analyzed at our FBI

[15:14] laboratories in Quantico and other

[15:16] laboratories, including the ATF.

[15:19] At my direction, the FBI released the

[15:21] first set of FBI photos of the suspect

[15:23] at 10:00 a.m. local time on 911. Then

[15:28] shortly thereafter, the FBI reward of

[15:30] $100,000 was released at 10:45 a.m.

[15:33] local.

[15:34] Myself and Deputy Director Bonino

[15:36] arrived on the scene at approximately

[15:37] 5:30 p.m. on 911.

[15:41] The governor led a press conference last

[15:43] night at approximately 8:00 p.m. where

[15:47] at my direction, the FBI released a

[15:49] never-before-seen video of the suspect.

[15:52] We also released new images to the

[15:55] public of the suspect.

[15:57] And just last night,

[16:00] the suspect was taken into custody at 10

[16:02] p.m. local time.

[16:04] In less than 36 hours, 33 to be precise,

[16:08] thanks to the full weight of the federal

[16:11] government and leading out with the

[16:12] partners here in the state of Utah and

[16:14] Governor Cox, the suspect was h

[16:16] apprehended in historic time period. And

[16:19] I want to highlight what Governor Cox

[16:21] said. This would not have been possible

[16:22] without you, the media, and you, the

[16:24] public. That's why we went so public, so

[16:27] fast, and we're so transparent, and

[16:29] we're committed to that transparency.

[16:32] The crime scene, just a little bit

[16:33] there. It is a large crime scene. state

[16:36] and local authorities along with federal

[16:37] authorities processed that crime scene

[16:39] quickly. And I even had the um

[16:44] ability to walk through that crime scene

[16:47] and walk through the steps the suspect

[16:50] took to learn more about what was needed

[16:52] and what resources we needed to bear to

[16:55] create a full picture for the FBI and

[16:57] leadership back in Washington.

[16:59] Furthermore, thankfully to state and

[17:00] local partners, forensic evidence has

[17:02] been seized and continues to be

[17:04] garnered. Forensic evidence has already

[17:06] been evaluated at FBI laboratories in

[17:08] Quantico and state local authorities

[17:10] here. We will continue to process

[17:12] evidence as we see it, as we collect it,

[17:14] and we will continue to deliver to

[17:15] Governor Cox and his team.

[17:19] Last night, we had a total of

[17:20] approximately 7,000 interviews, excuse

[17:22] me, 7,000 leads. As of this morning,

[17:25] thanks to your great work, we have over

[17:27] 11,000 leads that were called in to the

[17:30] FBI, and we are running out every single

[17:32] lead that we can. Every one of those

[17:35] leads will be run out.

[17:38] The arrest is a testament to dedication

[17:40] of good law enforcement being great and

[17:43] partnerships in law enforcement, which

[17:45] I've tried to highlight as my tenure at

[17:46] the director of the FBI. There is no

[17:49] better relationship for law enforcement

[17:51] than the FBI to partner with state and

[17:53] local authorities. And you've seen it

[17:55] here in these last few days. The FBI

[17:58] Salt Lake Field Office along with our

[17:59] offices in LA, Phoenix, Denver, San

[18:02] Antonio, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Buffalo,

[18:05] our headquarters component in Quantico

[18:07] all participate in the FBI. I want to

[18:09] express my deep gratitude to the

[18:11] employees of the FBI, the men and women,

[18:14] the evidence response team, tacticians,

[18:16] the special operators, the agents, the

[18:19] support staff.

[18:21] You have done monumental work in

[18:23] historic time

[18:25] when the public who had a right to

[18:27] demand such an expeditious

[18:30] solving of an investigation.

[18:32] The FBI answered that call diligently,

[18:36] critically important to our nation, and

[18:39] we delivered. And I'm proud to be their

[18:40] leader, and I'm proud to be the director

[18:42] of the FBI.

[18:44] This is a very much an ongoing

[18:45] investigation, as the governor said, and

[18:47] we will continue to work with state and

[18:48] local authorities uh to develop the

[18:51] investigation, to provide them the

[18:52] evidence they need for their ongoing

[18:54] prosecutions. and we will be here to

[18:56] answer every call they absolutely have

[18:58] as long as it takes for as long as we

[19:01] need to find and apprehend whoever

[19:03] suspects were involved in this crime.

[19:07] Lastly,

[19:10] to my friend Charlie Kirk,

[19:13] rest now, brother. We have the watch and

[19:16] I'll see you in Valhalla.

[19:25] Thank you and good morning. I would just

[19:28] like to take a few minutes as as the

[19:31] sheriff to express my gratitude for

[19:34] everybody who has played a part in this

[19:36] investigation.

[19:38] As you know, it's been a vast, a

[19:40] complicated, and a very, very fast-paced

[19:43] investigation. and you're looking at

[19:45] people standing up here who are running

[19:47] on if they got an hour's sleep in the

[19:50] last couple days, they're probably

[19:51] lucky. Um, it has been very taxing. It

[19:56] has been so impressive speaking on

[19:59] behalf of the local law enforcement

[20:03] to see the cooperation that we've seen

[20:05] in this type of case. uh across the

[20:07] state, sheriffs, chiefs, um our our

[20:11] state partners have stepped up and have

[20:14] come to the call on anything that we

[20:16] needed. Uh our county chiefs have been

[20:18] phenomenal.

[20:20] Our Utah County Attorney, Jeff Gray,

[20:22] who's standing up here with us, has been

[20:24] phenomenal in leading us through this

[20:27] investigation.

[20:28] I would like to thank the federal

[20:30] government for for their resource

[20:33] resources, their assets. Our local team

[20:35] here, our FBI team has been

[20:37] extraordinary in helping us work through

[20:39] this and bring this person to justice.

[20:44] Most of all,

[20:46] I would like to thank the public and

[20:49] specifically

[20:51] I would like to thank the public who

[20:54] turned to prayers and who turned to

[20:58] positiveness for us. I would like to

[21:00] thank them on behalf of the law

[21:02] enforcement community because we needed

[21:04] those prayers. That's what we needed to

[21:06] get through this. We needed your support

[21:08] and you gave it to us. We needed your

[21:10] patience and you gave it to us. And I

[21:12] would like to thank you for the Kirk

[21:14] family because that's what they need is

[21:17] your support and your prayers and that

[21:19] will get us through all of this. So,

[21:22] thank you everybody for everybody that

[21:24] have stepped up. We've had such a

[21:26] phenomenal response to this. Thank you.

[21:28] That will do it for this breaking news

[21:30] edition of On the Case presented by Law

[21:32] and Crime. We will continue to be on top

[21:34] of this story as so many details are

[21:36] coming in and as it continues to

[21:38] develop. Make sure you follow us here on

[21:41] YouTube as well as on Spotify. I'm Chris

[21:43] Stewart. We'll see you next time.

[21:45] [Music]