Key Updates
September 12, 2025
Utah authorities named the suspect in conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination as Tyler Robinson, 22, and said they had taken him into custody in St. George, Utah.
A judge ordered him held without bail on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm, and obstruction of justice, with prosecutors promising formal charges soon.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said a family member reported the suspect to a family friend, who reported Robinson to Utah law enforcement. Sources told the Associated Press that the suspect’s father had recognized him from photos released and asked a youth pastor for help convincing Robinson to turn himself in. Cox praised the family who “did the right thing” to help with the arrest.
Cox said the suspect had grown “more political” and that the family member said Robinson brought up at a recent dinner that he opposed Kirk’s views, that Kirk was “full of hate,” and that Kirk was coming to Utah Valley University.
The family member said Robinson had “implied” he committed the crime, according to Cox. The suspect’s roommate had also shared with law enforcement Robinson’s Discord messages about retrieving his rifle.
Investigators found several online trolling references engraved on bullet casings found with the gun used in the assassination, such as, “notices bulges OwO what’s this?” and “If you read this, you are gay lmao.” One casing read, “Hey fascist! Catch!” along with up, right, and three down arrows, likely a gaming reference.
The governor said surveillance footage showed Robinson’s car arriving on campus about four hours before the shooting, and that he blended in among students because of his age.
At the press conference the Utah governor addressed the nation’s young people, saying he knew many of them admired Kirk and many hated him.
“You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” said Cox, a Republican who belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “We can choose a different path. Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now.”
He quoted something Kirk had previously said: “Turn off your phone, read Scripture, spend time with friends.” He added later that having the video of the killing available to view was not good for humans: “Log off, touch grass, hug a family member.”
“We can return violence with violence, we can return hate with hate. That’s the problem with political violence, it metastasizes,” Cox said. “At some point we have to find an off-ramp or it’s going to get much, much worse. … History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country. Every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us.”
September 10, 2025
Christians and politicians called for prayer after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot Wednesday afternoon.
Within hours, they learned Kirk, the 31-year-old executive director of Turning Point USA, had died, and their prayers for recovery turned to mourning the leader and decrying the violence that killed him.
Kirk had been speaking from a tent to thousands of students gathered in the courtyard of Utah Valley University when a single bullet sailed toward him and appeared to hit him in the neck before he collapsed.
The shooter fired from the student center building, about 200 yards away, per university reports. By Wednesday evening, police had questioned and released two individuals but had not publicly identified a suspect.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance memorialized Kirk, one of the best-known young conservative voices in the country and a friend of the administration, with the president saying on Truth Social, “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”
“Charlie was killed while working to peacefully persuade others,” wrote pro-life activist Lila Rose. “May his witness call us to reject hatred and violence and to embrace the power of truth spoken in love.”
The fatal shooting comes amid a sense of swelling political violence in the US, including the murder of a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota in June and an assassination attempt against Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally last year. Texas pastor Jack Graham, an evangelical adviser to Trump, called Kirk a “martyr.”
Kirk was an evangelical Christian, and his wife, Erika, runs a Christian clothing brand and Bible-reading project called Biblein365. She posted from the Psalms on X: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
On social media, where Kirk had millions of followers, his death stirred responses from Christians who appreciated his politics as well as those who disagreed.
They called his killing gruesome and horrific. They asked for prayer for his wife and two kids, sharing photos and video clips of the young family. And they expressed feeling unsettled by the current political climate, rhetoric, and violence.
In a survey last year, the majority of American voters (66%) agreed that the threat of political violence was a major problem in the US, with Trump supporters most concerned (74%).
Kirk’s movement of young conservatives took off during Trump’s first term, expanding to around 800 campuses including dozens of Christian schools.
Many college chapters held vigils in Kirk’s memory Wednesday night, gathering with candles and posters. Supporters saw him as a hero for free speech on campus; students shared about how they took interest in conservative politics and spoke out about their faith as a result of Kirk’s dialogues.
At Liberty University in Virginia, where Kirk was scheduled to speak at convocation next month, hundreds gathered to hear from student leaders as well as chancellor Jonathan Falwell. They grouped together to pray on the steps and lawn in front of the student union, while a vocalist sang “Amazing Grace.”
Turning Point USA is popular but has also been divisive. On its website, the organization urges conservatives to “take up arms in the culture war.” Some professors reported harassment after it launched a watch list to expose “leftist propaganda” in college classrooms.
Kirk had partnered with Jerry Falwell Jr. to form the Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty at Liberty before Turning Point USA began its own faith arm in 2021. TPUSA Faith sets out to “unite the Church around primary doctrine and to eliminate wokeism from the American pulpit.” It offers biblical citizenship classes, courses for pastors, and church events.
Utah Valley University in Orem had been the first stop of Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour,” with events across 10 cities in September and October.
The university told The New York Times that six officers from the college’s police department worked the event, in addition to Kirk’s security team. Police chief Jeff Long said, “You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately, today, we didn’t. Because of that, we have this tragic incident.”
The leaders of the school’s TPUSA chapter donned American Comeback T-shirts and MAGA hats as they promoted the event for weeks with posters, videos, and a giant cutout of Kirk’s head.
Kirk was manning his “Prove Me Wrong” table, answering questions from the crowd on the Orem, Utah, campus. According to news reports and footage taken during the incident, he had been responding to a question about mass shootings when the bullet fired.
“Charlie Kirk got Gen Z off the sidelines. We owe him much,” wrote Southern Baptist pastor Dean Inserra following Kirk’s death.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
