Alleged messages sent between Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspected of shooting Charlie Kirk, and friends following the shocking assassination have been released.
Last week the death of political activist and opinion-splitting conservative talking head Kirk dominated headlines around the world. The 31-year-old was answering questions at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, September 10, when he was shot in the neck by a rifle round fired from a nearby rooftop.
The estimated 3,000-strong crowd erupted in panic as Kirk slumped back in his seat. The popular right-wing political influencer was ultimately declared dead 90 minutes later in hospital.
A concerted, highly-publicized manhunt instantly got underway, though the suspect in the shooting remained at large heading into day two of the search.
Authorities were able to track the suspect as he made his escape from the rooftops and around the edge of a nearby carpark, eventually finding the rifle used in the slaying of Kirk in a wooded area. Images of the college-aged man they were looking for in connection with the shooting were soon released to the public, as well as a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Despite FBI director Kash Patel’s frankly odd proclamation that this is what happens “when you let good cops be cops”, it wasn’t through the direct work of the authorities that the suspect was ultimately apprehended.
Rather, it was the suspect’s own father – in the knowledge that his son would more than likely be facing the death penalty – who convinced him to turn himself in.
That suspect was 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah.
In a press conference on Friday to announce they had him in custody, Utah’s governor Spencer Cox revealed messages Robinson had sent to his roommate that talked about retrieving a rifle from a ‘drop point’ and items such as a ‘scope’ and ‘unique’ rifle.
“Investigators interviewed that roommate who stated that his roommate made a joke on Discord,” said Cox.
“He showed several messages and allowed investigators to take photos of the screen. These photos consisted of various messages, including content of messages between the phone contact of Tyler and Robinson’s roommate’s device.
“The content of these messages included messages affiliated with the contact Tyler, stated the need to retrieve the 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.”
Discord themselves came out to clarify that those messages were actually from the roommate, who was talking about a note Robinson allegedly left elsewhere.
Now, new Discord messages have surfaced, detailing how Robinson joked with pals on the communication platform about how his “doppelganger” had shot Kirk after the FBI released an image of their primary suspect.
One of Robinson’s friends tagged the 22-year-old in a post with the FBI images, writing “wya” (where you at?) along with a skull emoji.
Robinson replied that it was his doppelganger trying to get him in trouble.
“Tyler killed Charlie!!!” wrote another person in the chat.
“Whatever you do, don’t go to a McDonald’s anytime soon,” another user joked, in reference to Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
Robinson responded that he “better also get rid of this manifesto and exact copy rifle I have lying around”, before claiming the alleged killer was ‘CLEARLY’ from California.
The 22-year-old then allegedly mocked the “trans” inscriptions found on the ammunition and claimed it was made up by a ‘dude in the briefing room’.
Robinson is currently being held without bail on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice.
According to Utah Governor Cox, Robinson was in a relationship with his roommate, who was in the process of transitioning from male to female.
“The roommate was a romantic partner,” he told NBC News’s Meet The Press on Sunday. “We can confirm that that roommate is a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female.”
Cox added that Robinson is refusing to cooperate with authorities.
