After a nearly 48-hour manhunt, President Donald Trump announced on Fox and Friends Friday morning that there was a suspect in custody in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Law enforcement confirmed the news soon after, and the suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Washington, Utah. He is being held without bail on several charges, including aggravated murder. That charge can carry the death penalty in Utah if prosecutors file a notice of intent to seek it.
The Arrest
As Utah Gov. Spencer Cox outlined at a press conference Friday morning, Robinson was arrested in the early morning hours of September 12 after “a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”
Investigators interviewed a family member who stated Robinson had become more political in recent years, and that person referenced a recent dinner in which Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to Utah Valley University. According to the family member, the suspect believed Kirk was “full of hate” and “spreading hate.”
It was also confirmed that Robinson drove a gray Dodge Challenger, the car identified as having belonged to the suspect, and was observed in “consistent clothing with those surveillance images.”
Additionally, Cox said Robinson’s roommate showed investigators messages on group messaging app Discord where Robinson talked about retrieving a rifle. The correspondences also referred to engraving bullets, a scope, and a unique weapon. Messages from the contact listed as “Tyler” mentioned that he had changed outfits, which tracks with what law enforcement had pieced together from the crime scene.
The Ammo
Following reporting from Steven Crowder and The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Cox revealed what was inscribed on three unfired casings found in the chamber of the rifle – a Mauser model 98 bolt-action rifle with a scope mounted on it – believed to be used by Robinson.
“Steven Crowder was correct that there were casings that had engravings on them,” Megyn said on Friday’s show. “And at least one piece of what was on there was correct, the anti-fascist writings and logos. As for the trans reference, that’s unclear.”
The engravings included left-wing slogans such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” along with an up arrow, a right arrow, and three down arrows; the words “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao,” which Cox said was a reference to a popular Italian anti-fascist song; and “If you read this, you are gay LMAO [laugh my ass off].”
According to the governor, the inscription on the lone casing that was fired said, “notices, bulges, OWO, what’s this?” Megyn said that message is believed to be tied to furry subculture. “That appears to be a reference to furry culture, which is part of the trans community,” she explained. “It is a meme, and it has some meaning for these weird, bizarre, furry culture people and also it’s used by gamers connected to that culture.”
The Suspect
What is being reported about Robinson thus far is that he was largely apolitical until recent years. “What we learned today was he doesn’t come from a political family. Michael Shellenberger has been scouring the social media and says he couldn’t find one political post in the past 13 years from the mom or the dad,” Megyn shared. “The mom works helping people with disabilities, the dad is in law enforcement for 27 years, but neither appears to be political at all.”
The Daily Mail reached Robinson’s paternal grandmother who expressed shock, describing her grandson as a “quiet” and “reserved” young man. She said the family was largely Republican and Trump supporters, though records indicate the suspect was registered as unaffiliated.
While the grandmother said she is “just so confused” by the situation, Megyn said she is not. “I wish I could say I were confused about that particular dynamic, but I’m not,” she said. “It doesn’t look like this kid was political one way or the other, and then he went off to the indoctrination factory that is college and appears to have had a mental break.”
Megyn acknowledged that the “mental break” could have been triggered by anything, but she said the “left-wing ideology that is pushed on students on every college campus in this country is radicalizing millions of them.” And while “they don’t all go out and shoot somebody,” she said she “would be doing Charlie a disservice” if she “did not underscore that it is radicalizing millions of them” because “he was in a lifelong mission to undo it” and “to fight against it.”
Robinson was not a student at UVU, and he does not appear to have a personal connection to the school. There is a video circulating online of him reacting to him receiving a scholarship to Utah State University. While the clip suggests he was awarded a four-year scholarship, reports indicate he may have only completed one semester.
Robinson was at his childhood home in Washington, about 260 miles south of where Kirk was assassinated, at the time of his arrest.
Possible Motive
With that background in mind, Megyn said much attention will be paid in the days and weeks ahead to how Robinson became radicalized.
“My mom always used to say when I was growing up, ‘I cannot respond to irrational behavior rationally.’ And that, in a way, is what we’re trying to do here because we’re human, we’re seeking meaning, and we really don’t want this to happen again,” she explained. “We all feel like if we can find the reason behind this one, then we can prevent the next one because… we’ll figure out what was the ideology… and will guard against it.”
“That is only natural. All of us want to do that,” Megyn added. “People are like, ‘The fact that he wrote these things on the bullets just show he was nothing but a gamer’… Okay, you missed the part where he wrote them on bullets with which he shot Charlie Kirk… Clearly, he had hatred in his heart for Charlie Kirk.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,147 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.