Authorities have taken into custody the particular person they believe of capturing and killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday at a Utah college campus occasion.
Tyler Robinson, 22, was taken into custody in St. George, Utah, on Friday, authorities and sources instructed ABC Information.
Robinson’s father acknowledged him because the particular person being sought by police after authorities distributed pictures.
Flowers sit subsequent to the Utah Valley College check in a makeshift memorial for political activist Charlie Kirk, September 11, 2025 in Orem, Utah.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Photos
The daddy initially instructed Robinson to show himself in. Robinson initially mentioned no, however later modified his thoughts, officers mentioned.
The daddy then referred to as a youth pastor, who can be a U.S. Marshals process pressure officer. The officer suggested the daddy to have Robinson keep in place.
At a press convention on Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox mentioned Robinson had develop into extra political in recent times, and engaged in a dialog with a member of the family about Kirk’s go to to the Utah Valley College campus the night time earlier than.
Cox additionally described what was engraved on the casings discovered on the scene.
The primary casing, in accordance with Cox, mentioned “Notices Bulge OWO what’s this??”
The opposite three unfired casing mentioned: “Hey fascist! CATCH!” with an arrow image pointing up, then to the precise, after which three arrows pointing down, “O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Ciao, ciao!,” and “In case you learn this, you might be GAY Lmao.”
Tyler Robinson, 22 has been recognized because the particular person suspected of capturing and killing Charlie Kirk.
Fb
When regulation enforcement recognized Robinson, in addition they interviewed Robinson’s roommate who confirmed them a message between Robinson and his roommate.
“The content material of those messages included messages affiliated with the contact Tyler, stating a have to retrieve a rifle from a drop level, leaving the rifle in a bush,” Cox mentioned. “Messages associated to a to visually watching the world the place a rifle was left, and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel. The messages additionally referred to engraving bullets and a point out of a scope and the rifle being distinctive. Messages from the contact Tyler additionally talked about that he had modified outfits.”
Cox mentioned Robinson arrived on campus driving a grey Dodge Challenger, which matched his automobile he arrived in on campus.
He additionally thanked Robinson’s household, “who did the precise factor.”
FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned that regulation enforcement caught Robinson inside 33 hours of the capturing and was on scene inside 16 minutes.
“This can be a very a lot an ongoing investigation, because the governor mentioned, and we’ll proceed to work with state and native authorities to develop the investigation to supply them the proof they want for his or her ongoing prosecutions,” Patel mentioned.
Authorities and a former FBI agent beforehand mentioned they believed the topic to be a college-aged particular person with an obvious proficiency in dealing with a high-powered rifle and sure knew the structure of the college the place the murder occurred.
President Donald Trump initially introduced the arrest, stating on “Fox and Buddies” on Friday morning, “I feel with excessive diploma of certainty, now we have him in custody.”
Throughout a information convention on Thursday night, state and federal officers launched video of the particular person of curiosity leaping down from the roof of a constructing on the campus.
Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Division of Public Security, mentioned the suspect was sporting “distinct clothes” that might assist in his identification, together with Converse sneakers.
He mentioned the particular person seen within the video leaping from the roof left shoe impressions and a palm print.
A nonetheless from a video launched by the FBI of the suspected gunman within the deadly capturing of Charlie Kirk.
FBI
“We’re investing every little thing now we have into this and we’ll catch this particular person,” Mason mentioned on the information convention.
Authorities had acquired greater than 7,000 suggestions and leads and accomplished some 200 interviews, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox mentioned.
Throughout a information convention on Thursday morning, Robert Bohls, particular agent in control of the FBI’s Salt Lake Metropolis subject workplace, mentioned investigators imagine they’ve recovered the weapon utilized in what the governor of Utah on Wednesday referred to as a “political assassination.”
Bohls mentioned the weapon, a high-powered bolt-action rifle, was discovered discarded in a wooded space close to Utah Valley College (UVU) in Orem, and is being analyzed at an FBI laboratory for any clues that may determine the gunman.
The FBI launched pictures of an individual of curiosity sought in reference to the lethal capturing of Charlie Kirk.
FBI Salt Lake Metropolis
Extra particularly, a number of regulation enforcement sources with information of the investigation instructed ABC Information that the weapon is an older mannequin imported Mauser .30-06 caliber bolt-action rifle that was discovered wrapped in a towel in a wooded space close to the college. The sources mentioned a spent cartridge was found within the chamber of the gun.
The gun and cartridges recovered are to be flown to the FBI’s most important laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for probably the most technologically superior forensic evaluation, regulation enforcement sources instructed ABC Information. The main target is to search for any latent fingerprints and DNA, the sources mentioned.
Investigators additionally collected a footwear impression, a palm print and forearm prints for evaluation, Bohls mentioned.
Mason mentioned that investigators are additionally finding out “good video footage” of the shooter that they’ve used to trace his actions earlier than and after the capturing.
The FBI launched pictures of an individual of curiosity sought in reference to the lethal capturing of Charlie Kirk.
FBI Salt Lake Metropolis
Following Thursday’s information convention, the FBI in Salt Lake Metropolis launched surveillance pictures of the particular person of curiosity needed in reference to the capturing. The photographs present an individual who seems to be a white male, sporting all darkish clothes, together with a darkish long-sleeved collarless prime with what seems to be a picture on the entrance that features an American flag. The person within the pictures can be sporting a darkish ball cap and sun shades.
The FBI introduced a $100,000 reward is being provided for info resulting in the seize of the suspect.
Mason mentioned investigators imagine the suspect arrived on the UVU campus at 11:52 a.m. native time, about 28 minutes earlier than Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative grass roots group Turning Level USA, was shot. He mentioned the lethal shot was fired from a constructing a considerable distance from the place Kirk was talking to a crowd, authorities estimate was about 3,000 folks. He didn’t disclose which constructing the shooter fired from.
“We now have tracked his actions onto the campus, by means of stairwells, as much as the roof, throughout the roof to the capturing location,” Mason mentioned. “After the capturing, we had been capable of monitor his actions as he moved to the opposite aspect of the constructing, jumped off of the constructing, and fled off of the campus right into a neighborhood.”
A drone view reveals the reported location of the shooter on a rooftop, on the scene the place U.S. right-wing activist, commentator, Charlie Kirk was fatally shot throughout an occasion at Utah Valley College, in Orem, Utah, September 11, 2025.
Cheney Orr/Reuters
He mentioned investigators combed the neighborhood for the suspect and contacted residents with doorbell cameras to investigate.
“The person seems to be of school age,” mentioned Mason, including that the particular person of curiosity “blended in nicely with the school establishment.”
Brad Garrett, a retired FBI agent and an ABC Information contributor, mentioned the proof investigators have shared up to now paints an image of a suspect who deliberate the capturing right down to the final element, together with discarding the attainable homicide weapon alongside his escape path.
“He most likely did that [because] he did not wish to be seen carrying a weapon, working by means of a neighborhood, or strolling by means of a neighborhood,” Garrett mentioned.
Proper-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk throws hats to the group shortly earlier than he was shot at a Utah Valley College talking occasion in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10, 2025.
Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune by way of Reuters
Garrett mentioned the invention of the weapon is a significant clue that can give investigators further results in monitor down.
“The place did it come from? It might very nicely be registered or bought by this shooter. We’ll need to see,” Garrett mentioned. “Was it stolen? No matter it is perhaps, the ATF [the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] will assist them instantly, and so they most likely already know what that’s.”
Garrett mentioned the invention of the killer’s palm print can be useful.
“If he is ever had a full set of prints, the place you print your entire hand, to illustrate he’d been within the army or some side of the federal government or a contractor, they could have these,” Garrett mentioned. “That is a protracted shot, however they could have these.”
Garrett mentioned the space from the place the shot was fired might additionally make clear the identification of the gunman.
“My guess is … a scope and a tripod would have helped him rather a lot for steadiness, however the actual key’s if he was ready, and sadly did, hearth one shot that killed Charlie Kirk, that is displaying some proficiency as a result of it’s totally troublesome to have the respiration and the focus to tug off one shot like that and that is what killed the particular person,” Garrett mentioned. “Does that counsel prior coaching? Possibly. It actually suggests someone who’s been practising rather a lot with this weapon or some weapons identical to this.”
Garrett mentioned investigators are doubtless going to each gun vary and gun store within the space to find out if the gunman had visited them.
“The priority clearly as time goes on … did he depart the world? If he is sensible, then he did,” Garrett mentioned. “However many occasions, these sorts of shooters do not do this.”
