Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announces charges against Tyler James Robinson, 22, including aggravated murder, a capital offense, in the death of conservative commentator and activist Charlie Kirk. The charges were announced during a news conference at the Utah County Health & Justice Building in Provo, Utah on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced that his office has filed charges against 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, accused of shooting and killing conservative influencer Charlie Kirk during a crowded outdoor speaking event last week. 

Gray called Kirk’s death “an American tragedy” at a news conference in Provo on Tuesday, calling the shooting an offense against the state of Utah. He also expressed his concern for all those who were in the crowd at Utah Valley University and witnessed the attack. 

Robinson has been charged with multiple crimes, including one count of aggravated murder, which is a capital felony. If convicted, Robinson could face the death penalty — a sentence that Gray said he plans to pursue. 

“I do not take this decision lightly, and it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime,” Gray said. 

Robinson is facing several penalty enhancements if convicted, including a “victim targeting” penalty that prosecutors are seeking because “Robinson intentionally selected Charlie Kirk because of (Robinson’s) belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk’s political expression,” according to charging documents. 

Prosecutors also charged Robinson with two counts of obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies, and two counts of tampering with a witness, third-degree felonies. Robinson is accused of attempting to hide the rifle he allegedly used to shoot Kirk, disposing of his clothes and trying to encourage his roommate to “stay silent” if questioned by police, the charges say. 

Robinson is being held at the Utah County Jail without bail. He made his first court appearance at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, joining the virtual call with attorneys and Fourth District Judge Tony Graf from a jail cell. 

During the court appearance, Robinson only spoke once to state his name, sitting still and expressionless. While the judge read the charges that had been filed against him, Robinson at times nodded his head slightly, remaining stone-faced. 

The judge, after reviewing Robinson’s declaration of financial status, deemed him indigent, and he provisionally appointed a public defender to represent him in a case that could make Robinson the next inmate on Utah’s death row.  

Texts with roommate after shooting

Charging documents say police interviewed Robinson’s roommate, who told police about messages from Robinson. Officials haven’t named the roommate, who Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said “has been very cooperative with authorities.” 

On Sept. 10, the roommate received a text message from Robinson that said, “drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard.” 

“The roommate 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,’” the charging documents state.

After reading the note, the roommate responded in a text message: “What?????????????? You’re joking, right????”

Robinson replied that he would be stuck in Orem, Utah, for a while because he needed to retrieve his rifle, the documents state.

When the roommate asked Robinson why he shot Kirk, charging documents say Robinson responded, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

As the exchange went on, Robinson also said he had been planning to shoot Kirk for over a week, discussed engraving the bullets, talked about changing his clothes, and told his roommate to delete the text messages and not talk to media or police, according to the charging documents.

What parents told police

The charges also describe Washington County Sheriff’s Office investigators’ interviews with Robinson’s parents, who both saw photos law enforcement officials released of the suspected shooter during their 33-hour manhunt for Kirk’s killer. 

The day after the shooting, Sep. 11, Robinson’s mother saw the photos and “thought the shooter looked like her son.” 

“Robinson’s mother called her son and asked him where he was,” charging documents say. “He said he was home sick and that he had also been at home sick on September 10th. Robinson’s mother expressed concern to her husband that the suspected shooter looked like Robinson. Robinson’s father agreed.” 

Robinson’s mother also told police that “over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to lean more to the left.”

The charges also say that in one conversation with his parents before the shooting, Robinson mentioned that Kirk was expected to hold an event at Utah Valley University, “which Robinson said was a ‘stupid venue’ for the event.”

Robinson’s father told investigators that he also believed that the rifle that police suspected the shooter used matched a rifle that was given to his son as a gift. Based on Robinson’s text messages with his roommate included in the charging documents, that gun once belonged to his grandfather. 

Robinson’s father contacted his son and asked him to send a photo of the rifle, according to the charges. 

“Robinson did not respond. However, Robinson’s father spoke on the phone with Robinson,” the charges say. “Robinson implied that he planned to take his own life. Robinson’s parents were able to convince him to meet at their home.” 

While talking with his parents, charges say, “Robinson implied that he was the shooter and stated that he couldn’t go to jail and just wanted to end it.” 

“When asked why he did it, Robinson explained there is too much evil and the guy (Charlie Kirk) spreads too much hate,” charging documents say. “They talked about Robinson turning himself in and convinced Robinson to speak with a family friend who is a retired deputy sheriff. At Robinson’s father’s request, the family friend met with Robinson and his parents and convinced Robinson to turn himself in.” 

On Sept. 11, Robinson went to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in southern Utah with his parents and the family friend. 

Law enforcement officials asked the public for help identifying a college-age man who they said is a person of interest in the death of Charlie Kirk. (Photos courtesy of FBI)

A suspect in Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting is in custody, federal and state officials announced Friday morning. 

Law enforcement arrested Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Washington County resident. He was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder and felony discharge of a firearm, both first-degree felonies, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

“We got him,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a news conference Friday morning.

Aggravated murder is a capital crime in Utah, reserved for particularly heinous murders involving torture, sex crimes and assassinations, and if sentenced, Robinson could be executed. Cox said twice this week that prosecutors will be pursuing the death penalty. Robinson is currently being held without bail.

Kirk, a widely known and often polarizing conservative activist known for debating students on college campuses, was shot and killed during a Turning Point USA public speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, unleashing a search that involved more than 20 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The FBI also offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the shooter.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by investigators, one of Robinson’s family members reached out to a family friend on Thursday evening — that family friend contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office “with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”

Investigators at the FBI and Utah Valley University reviewed surveillance footage from the university and identified Robinson arriving on campus in a gray Dodge Challenger at about 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Robinson was also seen in surveillance footage wearing a “Converse/Chuck Taylor” shoe, according to the affidavit. When investigators encountered him in person early Friday morning, they note in court documents that Robinson “was observed in consistent clothing with the surveillance images.”

A family member who talked with investigators said Robinson had become more political in recent years and that prior to Wednesday, he had mentioned Kirk’s visit to Utah Valley University. He has no prior criminal history, according to court documents.

Court documents also detail a recent family dinner prior to the Sept. 10 shooting, where Robinson “mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints he had. The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate. The family member also confirmed Robinson had a grey Dodge Challenger.”

Robinson was not currently a student at Utah Valley University. He is a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, the Utah Board of Higher Education confirmed.

Law enforcement also spoke with Robinson’s roommate, who shared Discord messages from Robinson “stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left, and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel.”

The gun, Cox said, was a Mauser .30-06 bolt-action rifle, a gun capable of shooting long distances, often used for hunting deer or elk.

Messages reviewed by law enforcement also referred to engraving bullets. Cox said inscriptions found on the shell casings included messages like “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao” and “if you read this, you are gay LMAO.”

The governor said he didn’t have information about whether Robinson suffered from a mental illness.

Charging documents may be filed early next week, Cox said.

“This is a very sad day for, again, for our country, a terrible day for the state of Utah, 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,” Cox said.

The FBI is still pursuing the over 7,000 leads that it had received as of Friday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel said during the news conference.

Patel, who traveled to Utah during the investigation, thanked the governor and the local law enforcement agencies for resolving the case.

Forensic evidence has been analyzed in different FBI labs across the country, and state and local authorities will continue to process evidence, Patel said.

“In less than 36 hours, 33 to be precise, thanks to the full weight of the federal government and leading out with the partners here in the state of Utah and Gov. Cox, the suspect was apprehended in a historic time period,” Patel said.

Earlier on Friday morning, President Donald Trump said a suspect was in custody.

“I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him,” he said on Fox News.

‘An attack on the American experiment’

Cox, who has championed a campaign to combat polarization, argued this incident was about the “political assassination of Charlie Kirk,” he said.

“But it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times,” Cox said.

The fatal attack on Kirk may make it harder for people to feel like they can speak freely, the governor said. And, without a safe way to discuss opposing views, the country won’t be able to solve issues, “including the violence problems that people are worried about.”

“To my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” Cox said. “But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path. Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now.”

Whether this is a turning point for the best or worst, is yet to be seen, Cox said. But, after gory videos of Kirk’s shooting became widespread, he also called social media “a cancer on our society” and encouraged people to “log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”