Charlie Kirk's killer was arrested: what is known so far and the questions that do not yet have an answer / comments on the discord about the rifle with which he drew and the ammunition he wrote “Bella Ciao”

A 22-year-old Utah, named Tyler Robinson, is the main suspect in killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk and is in the police arrest, the governor of this state in the western United States announced, thus ending the searches that had been held for two days, after a national assassination in the US.

“I caught it,” said the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, in a press conference held on Friday with the FBI director, Kash Patel, and the local sheriff Mike Smith. Just a few hours before, President Donald Trump himself announced, during a live interview at Fox News, that he exists – “with a high degree of certainty” – a suspect in the custody of the authorities.

How was Tyler Robinson caught up

The suspect, identified as Tyler Robinson, confessed to a family friend – or rather “suggested” to that friend that he had committed the crime, and that person contacted the Sheriff's office in Washington (Utah city where Tyler Robinson and his family live), reports Reuters.

At the same time, a family member interviewed by investigators said that Robinson had become more politically involved lately and spoke contemptuously about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, said Governor Cox.

Tyler Robinson was arrested during Thursday's evening, about 33 hours after Kirk's killing, the FBI director Kash Patel said in the press conference.

“Right last night, the suspect was taken over in custody at 22:00. In less than 36 hours, more precisely in 33 hours,” said the FBI, thanking Utah officials.

The investigators then spoke with Robinson's room colleague, who showed them the comments Robinson made on discord, a popular chat and streaming platform among video game enthusiasts, discussing a kid's recovery from a delivery point and then throwing it into a bush, wrapped in a towel.

This matched with the description of the weapon recovered by the authorities, after the armed attack, in an wooded area near the campus.

The investigators had previously announced that they had found the rifle with which they were fired. They at the same time published a series of images on the surveillance cameras with a “person of interest” and asked the public to help them identify it.

Inscribed ammunition

The ammunition found on the spot had inscriptions, said the governor Spencer Cox in the conference.

According to him, the messages on the cartridges included: “Oh, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Ciao”; “If you read this, you are gay, lmao”; And “Hey, fascist, catch that!”

Asked what he thinks means those inscribed messages, the governor Spencer Cox replied: “I will let you interpret the meaning of the inscriptions. I think the clearest is the one who says” catch the fascist “… I think he speaks for himself.”

Politicians, commentators and amateur detectives have filled social networks and online forums with speculation and accusations regarding the killer identity and ideology, Reuters recalls.

What is known about Tyler Robinson

Judicial record

Tyler Robinson is originally from Utah and lived with his family in Washington County.

According to public documents, Robinson does not seem to have a criminal record, notes Reuters.

Political inclinations

Tyler Robinson registered as a voter, but was not affiliated with any political party, according to the electoral registers of the state of Utah.

At the same time, the registers show that he was an “inactive” voter, which means he had not voted in recent elections and had not responded to the correspondence sent to this regard by the local electoral bureau.

Education

He frequented for a short time the courses of the Utah State University (USU), in the city of Logan – for one semester in 2021, as the institution confirmed. It is not clear why he abandoned college.

In a video clip posted by his mother on Facebook, Tyler Robinson can be seen reading aloud from a letter giving him a four-year scholarship at Utah State University.

In another post, she said that Tyler had a score of 34 at the entrance document, a level that would place it in the top 1% of those who go through this standard college admission test.

What information was officially announced

Suspect Tyler Robinson is currently detained, without the possibility of bail, at the prison in Utah County.

Officials believe at this time of the investigation that he acted alone.

He was not officially specified his age, but sources close to the investigation told the press that he is 22 years old. He was not a student at the University of Utah Valley (UVU), where the crime took place, officials said.

Robinson arrived on the UVU campus on Wednesday morning, at 08:29, in a Dodge Challenger car.

A member of Tyler Robinson's family contacted a family friend, who contacted the sheriff's office, informing him that Robinson confessed to them or suggested that he had committed the attack.

Robinson has become more involved in politics in recent years, according to a family member interviewed by investigators.

The investigators also interviewed a room colleague, who showed them several messages from Robinson on the Disord platform.

The content of these messages included the need to recover a rifle from a delivery point and leave the rifle in a bush. A message also referred to the rifle wrapped in a towel.

The messages also referred to the registration of the bullets and mentioned a rear, as well as the fact that the rifle was unique.

What is not known yet

The first press conference after Tyler Robinson's arrest provided a little more information about who he is and what happened before Charlie Kirk's shooting, but there are still many unanswered questions, notes the Reuters Agency.

• What is Robinson's past in terms of firearms?
• What was his reason?
• Why Charlie Kirk?
• What are Robinson's orientations and political opinions?
• Where was it from committing the crime and how did he get rid of the police for 33 hours?