What We Know About Assassin Tyler Robinson

Tyler Robinson, 22, has been identified as the suspect in Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk's assassination on a Utah college campus.

"We got him on the evening of Sept. 11," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced in a Friday morning news briefing.

"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."

Background and upbringing

Robinson was a “very nice” Mormon, or member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and regularly went to church with his family when he was young, said neighbors of his family’s home in Washington, Utah, in the state’s far southwest corner.

“I knew his mom, you know, just by church and school,” local Kristin Scheiermann told The Post, referring to the suspect’s mother, Amber.

Since-deleted Facebook posts, viewed by Fox News Digital, paint a picture of Robinson’s life in Washington County, Utah, filled with family milestones, birthdays and school achievements.

Steven Dunham, director of communications for the Washington County School District, confirmed to Fox News = that Robinson was a student in the district from 2008 to May 2021, attending Pine View Middle School and Pine View High School.

By 2021, Robinson was shown moving into Utah State University (USU), with photos outside the Richard and Moonyeen Anderson Engineering Building.

In a statement to Fox News from USU, the public university said: "Utah State University confirms that Tyler Robinson, the suspect arrested in the killing of Charlie Kirk, briefly attended Utah State University for one semester in 2021."

"We can also confirm that he was a pre-engineering major and took classes consistent with that major for his one semester," the school added.

USU spokesperson Amanda DeRito told Fox News Digital that Robinson was awarded the school’s Resident Presidential Scholarship, its highest scholarship. She said Robinson had no disciplinary record during his time at the university. According to USU, the scholarship is reserved for top academic achievers.

At the time of his arrest, Robinson was a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College. In a statement, the Utah Board of Higher Education said that he is a "third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College. He briefly attended Utah State University (one semester in 2021) and received concurrent enrollment credit through Utah Tech University while in high school (2019-2021)."

Investigation and arrest

At a news conference, Cox outlined the timeline leading to Robinson’s arrest.

Robinson’s father recognized his face when the FBI plastered a grainy photo of him over the internet, sources said.

The concerned father confronted his son, who admitted he had fired the single shot that killed Kirk while he was speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

When the dad asked Robinson to turn himself in, the son said he would rather kill himself, sources said.

The father encouraged his son to speak with their youth minister, who also works with the US Marshals Service, sources said. The minister then called the authorities, sources said, and the FBI arrested Robinson early Friday.

Witness statements

Family members told investigators Robinson had "become more political in recent years."

"The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to Sept. 10," Cox said. "In that conversation, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn't like him and the viewpoints that he had."

Investigators also spoke with Robinson’s roommate.

"Investigators interviewed that roommate who stated that his roommate, referring to Robinson, made a joke on Discord," Cox explained. "The content of these messages included… a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point… messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left… engraving bullets… and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel."

One of Tyler Robinson’s high school friends, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the suspect was “pretty left on everything” and was “the only member of his family that was really leftist”.

“The rest of his family was very hard Republican,” the friend said

Around sophomore year, the friend said, Robinson became more extreme in his political views and would “always just be ranting and arguing about them.”

Weapon recovered

The investigation led to the recovery of a rifle north of UVU’s Campus Drive Road, where authorities found a rifle wrapped in a "dark-colored towel."

"The rifle was determined to be a Mauser Model 98 .30-06 caliber bolt action rifle," Cox said. "The rifle had a scope mounted on top of it. Investigators noted inscriptions that had been engraved on casings found with the rifle."

Officials said bullet casings with inscriptions reading “Hey fascist! Catch!” were found in a wooded area near the abandoned bolt-action rifle Robinson is accused of using to kill Kirk.

“A second unfired casing read, ‘Oh, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, ciao, ciao,’ and a third unfired casing read, ‘If you read this, you are gay, LMAO,’” Cox added.

Bella Ciao means “hello beautiful” in Italian. It was adopted as an anthem of the Italian antifascist resistance during World War II. It is sung to celebrate the fall of the Mussolini regime.

A third unfired casing held inscriptions of an “up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols,” Cox said. Some have speculated it is a reference to the Iron Front logo used by antifa organizers. The three downward arrows have different interpretations but can refer to either the Social Democratic Party in Germany, the trade unions, and the modern-day SDP youth group, or to the “political, economic, and physical strength of the working class.”

However, it is more likely connected to the controller code for a bomb air strike in the video game Helldivers, the subject of popular memes, according to other reports.

The governor said investigators found other inscriptions on a fire casing that read “notices, bulges, OWO, what’s this?” which appears to be a crude, sexually provocative reference.

Governor: Robinson family ‘did the right thing’

Cox credited law enforcement and the public with swiftly closing in on Robinson.

"We are indebted to law enforcement across the state," he said. "We’re grateful for everyone who worked together in such a short amount of time to find this person and to bring justice."

The Republican governor thanked Robinson's family members for doing the "right thing."

"I want to thank the public who has been so engaged reviewing videos, helping us with sending in tips and helping us get to this point," Cox said. "I want to thank the family members of Tyler Robinson who did the right thing in this case and were able to bring him in to law enforcement as well."

Cox also offered condolences to Kirk’s loved ones, saying: "I especially want to thank the family of Charlie Kirk — Erika, Charlie's parents, his two young children.

"This is a very sad day for our country, a terrible day for the state of Utah," Cox said. "But I’m grateful that at this moment, we have an opportunity to bring closure to this very dark chapter in our nation's history."