Authorities arrested a suspect in the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, officials reported on Friday, ending a frenzied manhunt for the shooter.
“We got him,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox said at a press conference.
Cox identified the suspect as Tyler Robinson, from Utah. He said a family member of Robinson contacted a friend, who reached out to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday night with information that Robinson had confessed or implied he was the shooter.
That information was passed to authorities, and FBI Director Kash Patel said Robinson was arrested at 10 p.m. local time on Thursday night.
Cox said investigators interviewed a family member, who stated that Robinson “had become more political in recent years.” The family member also reported a recent dinner with Robinson, during which he mentioned that Kirk was going to speak at Utah Valley University.
“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the opinions he had,” Cox said. “The family member also stated that Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”
Cox said investigators also spoke with Robinson’s roommate, who showed authorities messages allegedly from Robinson on the social media platform Discord. In those messages, the individual believed to be Robinson says he needs to pick up a rifle at a pickup point and states that the weapon was wrapped in a towel.
Inscriptions on the bullets
Authorities had already said they found a rifle wrapped in a towel, which they believe was the weapon used in the shooting.
Cox said the weapon was a Mauser bolt-action rifle with a mounted scope. He also said investigators recovered bullets with inscriptions on them.
The inscription on the only spent casing, he said, read: “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?”. It’s unclear what that means.
The note on one unfired casing was “Hey fascist! Catch!” along with arrow symbols. He said the inscriptions on the other unfired casings read “O Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao Ciao Ciao”, which appears to be a reference to an Italian antifascist resistance song. A third unfired casing bore the words “if you read this you are gay lmao”.
Kirk was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd of students at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon, triggering a massive search for the gunman.
After the shooting, the FBI and Utah Department of Public Safety released photos of the suspect, dressed in a black shirt and hat and carrying a black backpack, as well as video of him running across the campus rooftop after the shooting and fleeing.
Investigators analyzed additional campus surveillance footage, Cox said, and determined that Robinson arrived at the university in a gray Dodge Challenger around 8:30 a.m. on the day of the shooting. In the video, Robinson is wearing a plain brown T-shirt, light-colored shorts, and a black hat.
President Trump announced on Fox & Friends earlier on Friday that authorities had a suspect in custody.
“I hope he’s found guilty, I imagine, and I hope he gets the death penalty,” Trump said.
Source: npr.org by Ryan Lucas