Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby Describes the Phone Call That Led to Tyler Robinson's Surrender

[00:00] getting into uh

[00:02] getting into the into the details. So,

[00:05] uh obviously we knew uh Charlie Kirk was

[00:07] assassinated at UVU in the afternoon. Um

[00:10] about a 33-hour manhunt ensued and uh I

[00:15] was winding down for the evening and uh

[00:18] about well at exactly 8:02 on the 11th I

[00:22] received a call from a friend of mine

[00:24] who happens to be a retired detective

[00:26] that worked for me for many years. Um, I

[00:28] didn't put that out there initially.

[00:31] I wanted to protect that individual as

[00:33] much as possible. Um, unfortunately in

[00:36] the court documents, which is standard,

[00:38] uh, he was referenced as a retired

[00:40] Washington County deputy. So, I didn't

[00:43] put that out there. It was in the court

[00:44] docs. I was trying to protect even that

[00:46] information and just saying retired law

[00:48] enforcement in general. So, so I get a

[00:51] call from my friend and his his said,

[00:54] "Hey, how you doing?" Good. And it's

[00:56] not, you know, he's been retired a few

[00:57] years. He he'll we'll call each other.

[00:59] It's not it's not unusual for me to get

[01:00] a call from him or vice versa. And at

[01:03] 8:02

[01:05] p.m. he calls me. Hey, I can tell his

[01:08] voice is kind of shaky. So, my first

[01:09] thought is who who died? Like, who who's

[01:12] he going to tell me that died? And then

[01:13] uh and then I can't I couldn't fathom

[01:16] what actually came out of his mouth. So,

[01:18] he said, "Hey, um I know who I know who

[01:21] Charlie Kirk Shooter is. Um, I I know

[01:24] the family through religious association

[01:28] and uh he's in he's in Washington County

[01:31] now and we're working on trying to get

[01:35] him to come involuntarily. During that

[01:37] phone call um some information was

[01:39] provided about Tyler uh potentially

[01:42] having some suicidal ideiations was in

[01:45] route out to a remote area Washington

[01:46] County. Um the parents convinced him not

[01:49] to do that and uh you know conveyed that

[01:52] they would uh you know stand by him and

[01:54] help him help him um surrender

[01:57] peacefully.

[01:59] So at that point u that that phone call

[02:01] was a minute and 41 seconds. Um I

[02:05] immediately called Sheriff Mike Smith in

[02:06] Utah County who I knew was at the

[02:08] incident command in uh Utah County. So,

[02:12] for about 40 seconds, I'm I'm telling

[02:14] Sheriff Smith, hey, uh yeah, I I'm

[02:17] confident we have the shooter in

[02:18] Washington County. We're working on

[02:20] getting him to come in and surrender at

[02:22] my office. We we didn't have him yet.

[02:25] And uh after about 40 seconds, Sheriff

[02:28] Smith's like, "Wait, wait, what? What

[02:31] are you talking about?" So, he was he

[02:33] was shocked as I was to hear the news.

[02:35] And uh so I repeated myself. He said,

[02:38] "You know, how credible is it?" I said,

[02:39] you know, I trust this this guy that

[02:41] called me with my life and I I think

[02:43] it's time you need to get your your

[02:45] people, the lead investigators, uh

[02:47] headed to Washington County.

[02:49] Uh within the hour, um my friend uh

[02:54] drove Tyler and his parents to my office

[02:56] where he was greeted by uh plane closed

[02:59] detectives. So that was part of the part

[03:01] of the deal is um Tyler knew it was just

[03:05] inevitable with all the law enforcement

[03:07] pressure that he you know his picture in

[03:09] the news the gun the gun on the news he

[03:11] knew it was inevitable uh that he would

[03:13] be caught. He was fearful of a SWAT team

[03:16] hit on his house or he was fearful of

[03:18] being shot by law enforcement. So part

[03:21] of the negotiation and getting him to

[03:23] bring himself in was that that we would

[03:26] we would treat it as delicate and as

[03:29] soft as possible to make him feel

[03:31] comfortable to where he would he would

[03:32] show up at my office. And that's exactly

[03:34] what happened. Um so since we weren't

[03:37] the leading lead agency, basically it

[03:40] was about a two and a half hour waiting

[03:41] in a room not not communicating with the

[03:44] the suspect. Our job was not to

[03:46] interview. Our job was just to get him

[03:47] here. So after about 2 and a half hours,

[03:50] uh we end up getting federal agents and

[03:52] state agents in and and uh uh some of my

[03:56] detectives were asked to go out into the

[03:58] community and secure two locations. So

[04:00] the parents home and the apartment that

[04:04] Tyler was living in along with the the

[04:06] vehicle that Tyler was uh likely driving

[04:10] um up up at UVU. So u but there was

[04:13] negotiation. there was some some

[04:15] criteria that needed to be met for him

[04:17] to voluntarily come in and I agreed to

[04:20] those terms. Um,

[04:21] >> what did he ask for? Can I ask him?

[04:22] >> Uh, he ba basically for for a a

[04:27] peaceful, gentle, comfortable transition

[04:30] for him to come out again. He he knew he

[04:32] was going to get caught. He didn't want

[04:33] a big SWAT team hitting his parents

[04:35] house or his apartment. Uh he he was

[04:38] truly fearful of being shot by law

[04:39] enforcement. Um so that the conditions

[04:42] were as relaxed and comfortable and

[04:44] almost to the point of you know inviting

[04:47] and if if if at the end of the day the

[04:51] the we accomplish him surrendering

[04:53] peacefully on his own I'm going to I'm

[04:55] going to make some concessions to make

[04:57] that happen.

[04:58] >> It was a big deal. You know not only

[05:00] national but international. you're

[05:01] seeing you're seeing people mourning all

[05:03] over the world for Charlie Kirk and uh

[05:06] to have that happen um you know I've had

[05:10] thoughts and heard comments about you

[05:12] know this this kind of stuff doesn't

[05:14] happen in Utah you know unfortunately it

[05:16] did but then to have the suspect be a

[05:19] Utah resident who literally went to the

[05:21] same high school I went to I mean we're

[05:23] like 30 years apart but I I went to the

[05:26] same high school he happened to go to

[05:27] the same high school here in Washington

[05:28] County so it's a it's a it's a a double

[05:32] shock factor that one one in Utah and

[05:35] then the suspect happened to be

[05:37] homegrown Washington County boy. So,

[05:39] >> what time did he get here?