Tyler Robinson was formally charged with on Tuesday with seven counts, including aggravated murder, for the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The district attorney told reporters the defendant is believed to have targeted Kirk “based on Charlie Kirk’s political expression.”
As reported on Wednesday’s AM Update, Robinson attended the court hearing virtually from his Utah prison cell wearing what appeared to be a green anti-suicide smock. The suspect only spoke once during the brief, 10-minute proceeding, stating his name as “Tyler James Robinson” at the request of presiding District Judge Tony Graf.
The 22 year old appeared stoic for most of the hearing. He nodded slightly on occasion, including went the judge said he would remain in custody without bail. Graf also approved a court-appointed lawyer for Robinson, saying the defendant was “indigent.”
The Charges
Prior to the hearing, Utah County District Attorney Jeffrey Gray announced seven charges against Robinson. Count one is aggravated murder for knowingly causing the death of Kirk
under circumstances that created great risk to others. This is a capital offense and prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty. Count two is felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury.
At the time of his death, Kirk was surrounded by about 2,000 onlookers, several staff, and security members sitting within feet of him. Gray confirmed the murder was a political assassination and that fact plays into the charges. “The state is further alleging aggravating factors on counts one and two because the defendant is believed to have targeted Charlie Kirk based on Charlie Kirk’s political expression and did so knowing that children were present and would witness the homicide,” he explained.
Counts three and four, obstruction of justice are second-degree felonies. One charge relates to ditching the rifle believed to have been used in the crime, and the for getting rid of
the outfit he allegedly wore during the shooting.
Counts five and six, witness tampering relate to a conversation Robinson had with his roommate and romantic partner after the shooting. They are third-degree felonies.
Count seven, commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child, is a class A misdemeanor – the most serious level misdemeanor offense.
The Motive
The charging documents elaborated more on the accused assassin’s evolving political views over the last few years. Robinson’s mother told authorities that, over the last years or so, her son “had become more political and had started to lean more to the left – becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”
According to the documents, she stated that when Robinson and Twiggs began dating, it resulted “in several discussions with family members, but especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views.”
She also told police that, in one conversation before the shooting, Robinson mentioned Kirk would be holding an event at Utah Valley University and said it was a “stupid venue” for the event. The indictment said Robinson “accused Kirk of spreading hate.”
Gray outlined how Robinson’s parents confronted their son about his possible role in the shooting after seeing the photos released by the FBI. His parents reported to law enforcement that their son said he did it because “there is too much evil” and Kirk “spreads too much hate.”
The Text Messages
The district attorney also revealed more information about Robinson’s actions in the hours after the shooting and prior to turning himself over to police. Robinson’s roommate – a male ‘transitioning’ to female whom FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed to The Megyn Kelly is named Lance Twiggs – turned over astonishing messages to authorities he said were sent by Robinson.
Gray read from the alleged exchange that occurred on September 10. According to the charging document, Twiggs (identified as “roommate”) provided the messages to police. The first correspondence from Robinson told his romantic partner to “drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard.” Twiggs is said to have looked under the keyboard and found a note that stated, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
Then, according to the indictment, the following exchange occurred:
ROOMMATE: What?????????????? You’re joking, right????
ROBINSON: I am still ok my love, but am stuck in orem for a little while longer yet. Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.
ROOMMATE: you weren’t the one who did it right????
ROBINSON: I am, I’m sorry
TWIGGS: I thought they caught the person?
ROBINSON: no, they grabbed some crazy old dude, then interrogated someone in similar clothing. I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down. Its quiet, almost enough to get out, but theres one vehicle lingering.
ROOMMATE: Why?
ROBINSON: Why did I do it?
ROOMMATE: Yeah
ROBINSON: I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.
…
ROOMMATE: How long have you been planning this?
ROBINSON: a bit over a week I believe. I can get close to it but there is a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don’t wanna chance it
…
ROBINSON: I’m wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle. … I’m worried what my old man would do if I didn’t bring back grandpas rifle … idek if it had a serial number, but it wouldn’t trace to me. I worry about prints I had to leave it in a bush where I changed outfits. didn’t have the ability or time to bring it with. … I might have to abandon it and hope they don’t find prints. how the fuck will I explain losing it to my old man. …
ROBINSON: only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in a towel. …
ROBINSON: remember how I was engraving bullets? The fuckin messages are mostly a big meme, if I see “notices bulge uwu” on fox new I might have a stroke alright im gonna have to leave it, that really fucking sucks. …
ROBINSON: judging from today I’d say grandpas gun does just fine idk. I think that was a $2k scope ;-;
…
ROBINSON: delete this exchange
ROBINSON: my dad wants photos of the rifle … he says grandpa wants to know who has what, the feds released a photo of the rifle, and it is very unique. Hes calling me rn, not answering.
…
ROBINSON: since trump got into office [my dad] has been pretty diehard maga.
…
ROBINSON: Im gonna turn myself in willingly, one of my neighbors here is a deputy for the sheriff.
ROBINSON: you are all I worry about love
ROOMMATE: I’m much more worried about you
ROBINSON: don’t talk to the media please. don’t take any interviews or make any comments. … if any police ask you questions ask for a lawyer and stay silent
This conversation is different than the ones that were allegedly sent between Robinson and friends on the group messaging platform Discord, which FBI Director Kash Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee involved more than 20 people. Those chats are not referenced in the indictment but are being investigated by the FBI.
Lingering Questions
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn noted that there has been chatter and spectulation online about the valditiy of the text messages between Robinson and Twiggs. Victor Davis Hanson said he does believe the messages are real and does not believe it will be hard to prove that.
“We’ll have forensics that can probably go onto his phone… or computer, and they can look at all of his messages and the grammar and the syntax and see to what degree, if any, these are different,” he noted. “So, they’ll find out very quickly if they haven’t already.”
Hanson said he is instead disgusted by the contents of the conversation. “What bothered me about it was he just blew apart somebody’s neck, and he’s worried about whether his dad’s going to get mad at him about the rifle,” he asked. “Two, he obviously thinks he’s going to get away with it and live to an old age about it. And three, I would like to know the time differential from the moment he said to the so-called partner ‘I did it’ til when law enforcement was notified.”
To that point, Megyn questioned was the intent of the conversation. “Part of it reads to me like… the roommate knew… in advance, and I think some of that exchange may have been pre-set up between them, like, ‘I’ll give you the big reveal just in case I get caught. I’ll at least get you off the hook by telling you and you’ll be in disbelief,'” she speculated. “That is kind of how it read to me because… he didn’t call the police when he had this exchange.”
“And by the way, we’re still not to the bottom of all these trans activists or trans people online who were saying, “Wait until September 10.’ ‘Something big is coming.’ ‘Charlie Kirk should be evaporated.’ ‘You just wait.’ ‘We got them,'” she added. “Maybe it’s just chatter, maybe not. But I do believe the FBI is going to get to the bottom of that real quick.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Hanson by tuning in to episode 1,151 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.