The suspect in the fatal shooting of prominent US right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk has been formally charged with his murder.
Prosecutors in Utah announced the news yesterday.
Kirk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead on September 10 during a speaking event on a Utah university campus. He was the founder of the influential Conservative youth political group Turning Point USA.
Authorities alleged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson used a rifle to shoot Kirk with a single bullet in the neck from a rooftop. He was arrested after a 33-hour manhunt.
“After reviewing the evidence that law enforcement has collected thus far, I am … charging Tyler James Robinson, age 22, with the following crimes,” Utah County attorney Jeff Gray told a press conference, AFP reported.
“Count one, aggravated murder, a capital offence, for intentionally or knowingly causing the death of Charlie Kirk under circumstances that created a great risk of death to others.”
Six other charges include obstruction of justice and witness tampering, allegedly for ordering his roommate to stay silent.
“I am filing a notice of intent to seek the death penalty,” Gray added.
“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.”
According to the BBC yesterday, Robinson appeared to take responsibility for the shooting on the messaging platform Discord, a company spokesperson has confirmed.
The spokesperson said he messaged friends in a chat on Discord hours before he was arrested on September 12.
“It was me at UVU yesterday. Im sorry for all of this,” read a message from an account that allegedly belongs to Robinson, according to the spokesperson and a law enforcement source.
The Discord messages said to be from Robinson were first reported by the Washington Post and are thought to have been written and posted towards the end of a manhunt for Kirk’s killer that lasted more than a day.
The spokesperson, though, said an internal investigation had found “no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord”.
Gray cited lengthy text message exchanges between Robinson and his roommate, whom he described as “a biological male who was transitioning genders”, AFP reported.
Robinson and the roommate were in a romantic relationship, Gray said.
In one part of the exchange, the roommate, who was not named, asked Robinson why he had allegedly killed Kirk.
“‘I had enough of his hatred.'” Gray cited the messages as saying. “‘Some hate can’t be negotiated out.'”
Messages from the account thought to belong to Robinson also reportedly indicate that he was planning to hand himself in.
“I’m surrendering through a sheriff friend in a few moments, thanks for all the good times and laughs, you’ve all been so amazing, thank you all for everything,” read one, according to The Washington Post.
Yesterday, FBI Director Kash Patel told a congressional hearing that investigators would question members of the Discord group chat with Robinson.
He said they would speak to “anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat” and that they will be “running out every lead”.
Asked if there were about 20 Discord users in the chat, Patel said it was “a lot more”.
He has been heavily criticised for his actions in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, including having quickly announced the arrest of a separate suspect, only to confirm they had been released two hours later, Sky News reported.
Patel faced a grilling from the Senate panel yesterday that included some very bad-tempered exchanges with Democratic Senator Corey Booker.
The two shouted at each other before committee chair and Republican senator Chuck Grassley banged his gavel to interrupt them.
“I’ve watched him talk over us, and you’ve never once criticised him for us,” Booker said to the chair as he got up to leave the room. “He has been really disrespectful to senator after senator.”
Patel also clashed with Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who questioned the FBI and Trump administration’s handling of questions relating to the deceased paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The director accused Schiff of “the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate” and shouted: “You are a political buffoon, at best”.
Patel has come under fire from both the Right and the Left since being named by Trump to head the FBI in late February.
Kirk, a father of two, used his audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for Conservative talking points, including strong criticism of the transgender rights movement.
A polarising figure, he often posted edited clips of his interactions during debates at his many college events, according to AFP.
On September 15, the White House said it would be pursuing an alleged left-wing “domestic terror movement” in the wake of Kirk’s killing, prompting alarm that such a campaign could be used to silence political dissent.
