The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination has been identified as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident.
Law enforcement sources told Daily Mail that Robinson was taken into custody as the alleged assassin who killed Kirk at a rally at Utah Valley University in Utah on Wednesday.
The alleged killer confessed to his father Matt, sources told Daily Mail. He reportedly told his father that he would rather kill himself than turn himself in, but was convinced to speak with a local youth minister who also worked with the US Marshals Service.
His mother, Amber Robinson, works for Intermountain Support Coordination Services, a company contracted by the state of Utah to help disabled people receive care. Both of his parents are registered Republicans, online records showed.
Robinson was a student at Utah State University on a scholarship but attended for only one semester in 2021, insiders confirmed to Daily Mail.
The family’s social media profiles show Robinson, who has two younger brothers, often enjoying family vacations and sharing smiling selfies, including one of his mother celebrating her ‘genius’ son getting into college.
Robinson was taken into custody around 11pm local time in southern Utah on Thursday night. He lives in a $600,000 six-bedroom home in Washington, Utah – about 260 miles south of Kirk’s assassination in Orem.
Robinson faces charges of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by NBC News. Authorities said at a press conference on Thursday night that Robinson will face the death penalty if convicted.
At a press conference on Friday morning, Utah Governor Spencer Cox began his remarks by delcaring: ‘We got him.’
He said that investigators learned from Robinson’s family that he had become more political in recent times, and had recently expressed his dislike for Kirk, describing him to his family as ‘full of hate.’
Cox said that casings from the weapon used to kill Kirk were found to have several anti-fascist messages engraved on them, including one referencing the WW2 Italian anti-fascist song Bella Ciao.
One engraving read ‘Hey Fascists, Catch!’ – next to an up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol and three down arrow symbols – another read ‘OwO’, and a third read ‘If You Read This You Are Gay LMAO’, Cox said.
The governor added that Robinson’s roommate helped investigators by showing messages on Discord where the alleged killer talked about retrieving a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, and references to engraved bullets and a scope.
Social media accounts linked to Robinson’s family show he was often around guns as a child, including one image shared by his mother showing him posing with an M2 Browning 50. calibre machine gun.
He also received a gun kit for Christmas, and was also seen wearing shoes that appeared to match those worn by the suspect in images released by investigators during the manhunt.
In another image from Robinson’s mother’s social media from 2017, he was seen wearing a Donald Trump costume to Halloween.
Cox described Kirk’s assassination as a ‘watershed moment’ in American history, but added: ‘The question is, what kind of watershed?’
Trump announced the arrest in an appearance on Fox News, where he said that ‘someone very close’ to the suspect turned him in.
Robinson’s arrest comes after a manhunt for the suspect stretched to over a day and a half , with officials previously offering a reward of $100,000 for information leading to his capture.
Surveillance footage had been released showing a figure on top of a roof leaping from a building and sprinting into a nearby neighborhood after Kirk was shot from around 200 yards away.
The conservative commentator was hit by a single bullet while speaking to a crowd at the public university in Orem on Wednesday afternoon.
The father-of-two, known for his fierce MAGA views and thrilling debates with college kids across the country, collapsed immediately after being hit by the gunfire.
The alleged killer was found after multiple suspects were incorrectly apprehended on Tuesday.
Initially, a ‘person of interest’ was said to be in custody in connection with Kirk’s shooting, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced Wednesday evening.
However, they were later released, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed.
‘The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement,’ Patel said in a statement. ‘Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency.’