Things Go Horribly Wrong With Defiant Kirk Killer While In Custody

Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old charged with assassinating conservative leader Charlie Kirk, is refusing to cooperate with law enforcement while being held under special watch in a Utah jail. Meanwhile, President Donald J. Trump is putting the blame squarely on the radical left, warning that “a lot of people are already under major investigation” connected to the shocking political killing.

Robinson was arrested Friday after allegedly gunning down Kirk at Utah Valley University, shooting the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder in the neck while he engaged in debate with students. The brazen act of political violence has ignited national outrage and renewed scrutiny of extremist movements festering online.

Authorities say Robinson confessed privately to his father, Matt Robinson, before being taken into custody. But Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told ABC’s This Week that Robinson “has not confessed to authorities” and “is not cooperating.” By contrast, Cox noted that Robinson’s associates are fully cooperating. “All the people around him are cooperating,” Cox said, underscoring Robinson’s defiance.

President Trump, speaking Sunday night from a New Jersey airfield, condemned the culture of hatred that fueled the attack. “A lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left are already under major investigation” in connection with Kirk’s murder, the president said. “The problem is on the left — it’s not on the right as some people like to say. The problem we have is on the left. And when you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speak so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left, that’s not the right.”

Governor Cox described Robinson’s descent from a promising student to a radicalized killer. Once a 4.0 student and scholarship recipient at Utah State University, Robinson dropped out and fell into dark online subcultures. “Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark Internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places on the Internet where this person was going deep,” Cox said. “You saw that on the casings … the memeification that is happening in our society today.”

Investigators revealed chilling details: Robinson engraved bullets with phrases tied to transgender and antifascist ideology, including “Hey fascist! CATCH!” along with lyrics from a militant anti-fascist song. At a recent family dinner, he reportedly mentioned Kirk’s upcoming appearance at UVU and expressed disdain for him.

Robinson had been in a relationship with his transgender roommate, Lance Twiggs, who is now cooperating with authorities. According to Axios, Twiggs was “aghast” at the revelation Robinson was the shooter and quickly turned over incriminating messages. Those messages described how Robinson wrapped the rifle in a towel and stashed it in bushes after the attack.

“We also have to figure out how it came to be that a kid with a 4.0 [GPA], with a 34 on the ACT, with a full-ride scholarship at my alma mater, who didn’t even last a semester, drops out and ends up doing something like this,” Gov. Cox said. Investigators are also examining a written note Robinson allegedly left behind, expected to appear in charging documents.

Robinson faces capital murder, weapons charges, and obstruction, with Cox vowing to pursue the death penalty. He is being held without bail in the Utah County Jail’s special housing unit, after allegedly telling his father he would rather die than surrender.

Meanwhile, Turning Point USA has announced a massive memorial service for Charlie Kirk to be held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21. The venue, home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, can seat 63,000 people and will expand to 73,000 for the event. President Trump has confirmed he will attend, calling Kirk “a great American and a great friend” in his national address.

As the investigation deepens, Robinson’s profile emerges as a stark warning: a young man who abandoned his conservative upbringing, immersed himself in radical left-wing subcultures, and plotted to kill one of the most influential voices in American conservatism. President Trump’s warning that “major investigations” are already underway makes clear that this case is not just about one assassin — but about an ideology of hate on the left that threatens the very foundation of the country.