Though the suspect in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was revealed by authorities on Friday, questions surrounding his identity and motivations have exacerbated intense US political debates in the aftermath of the shooting.
Authorities revealed Kirk’s suspected killer to be Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old man who grew up in Washington, Utah, along the state’s south-western border.
In absence of a clear motive for the slaying, reports have tried to piece together information about Robinson and his background. He is a third-year student in an electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in the state. Both of his parents are registered Republicans, though his personal political beliefs remain unclear. Now-deleted pictures on social media show Robinson and his family posing with guns.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Saturday, Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, said: “It’s very clear to us and to investigators that this was a person who was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.” Cox cited the findings of the ongoing investigation into Robinson and his possible motive but did not provide any further details about how officials arrived at that conclusion.
The FBI declined to comment about reporting on Saturday by conservative media outlets Fox News and the New York Post, citing law enforcement sources, that Robinson lived with a partner who was trans – a member of a community against whom Kirk rallied – and was cooperating with investigators.
Regardless, Cox’s remarks were published a day after he delivered a speech following Robinson’s arrest in which he had a candid moment about Robinson’s identity as a Utahn.
“Bad stuff happens, and for 33 hours, I was praying that if this had to happen here, it wouldn’t be one of us,” Cox said. “That somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country. Sadly, that prayer was not answered the way I hoped for.”
He went on to explain that it would have been “easier on us” if the suspect weren’t from the community.
“Just because I thought it would make it easier on us to say, ‘Hey, we don’t do that here.’ Indeed, Utah is a special place, we lead the nation in charitable giving, we lead the nation in service every year,” Cox said, tears welling in his eyes. “But it did happen here, and it was one of us.”
After Robinson’s identity was revealed, some conservatives have softened their attacks against Kirk’s alleged murderer as an individual – but continue to leverage anger toward liberals as a group.
Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina tweeted on Wednesday that “it’s time to bring back the death penalty” following Kirk’s murder.
On Friday, Mace said that Kirk “would want us to pray for such an evil and lost individual like Tyler Robinson to find Jesus Christ”.
“We will try to do the same,” she wrote.
She later doubled down on the death penalty, saying: “Some crimes are so evil, the only just punishment is the death penalty.” But, referring to the way the suspect’s father reportedly had a role in turning him over to authorities, she also said: “We are sending prayers and our high regards to Tyler Robinson’s father for doing the right thing.”
Cox’s speech has largely been praised as highlighting unity during a divisive moment, providing a stark contrast to Donald Trump, who considered Kirk a close ally. The president on Friday appeared on Fox & Friends and was asked by host Ainsley Earhardt, “How do we fix this country? How do we come back together?”
“The radicals on the right are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “The radicals on the left are the problem – and they are vicious and horrible and politically savvy. They want men in women’s sports, they want transgender people, they want open borders. The worst thing that happened to this country.”
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Conservatives had latched onto reports – that have since been retracted – that the casings for bullets found with the gun that police suspect was used to kill Kirk were engraved with markings indicating “trans ideology”.
“To the surprise of literally no one,” Megyn Kelly said on her show earlier in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing. “There’s one particular group that’s been running around killing Americans in the name of ideology, and it’s transgender activists or individuals, or those who proclaim that they are.”
Once Robinson’s identity was revealed, Kelly speculated that Robinson must have been radicalized after going to college.
“This kid got radicalized, and obviously had a psychotic break … I am disturbed to see that he appears to have come from a loving, intact family,” Kelly said. “If you look at the family social media profile, it looks like a happy family. It looks like a loving mom, and a loving dad. He had two younger brothers, there’s lots of family photos of them going on vacations and family dinners.”
Kelly noted that while authorities will be seeking the death penalty, it is ultimately a “mental health issue” that underpins the “radicalization” of young people who go to college.
Meanwhile, white nationalist Nick Fuentes sought to shut down speculation that Robinson may have been a “Groyper”, a nickname for a follower of Fuentes, after reports on the engravings on the bullets of the alleged killer’s gun led to theorizing on his ideology.
Groypers had long criticized Kirk and trolled speakers at his events because the former perceived the latter to be too politically moderate.
While Fuentes claimed in a social media post that he and his followers were “currently being framed for the murder of Charlie Kirk,” he also said in a streaming video: “I pray to God there is no further violence.”
“To all of my followers, if you take up arms, I disavow you,” Fuentes said. “I disown you in the strongest possible terms.”
