‘We got him,’ said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, confirming Robinson is the suspected shooter.
The suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk is Tyler Robinson, from Washington, Utah, officials confirmed on Friday morning.
“We got him,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in a news conference, confirming Robinson is the suspected assassin.
A family member told local officials that Robinson had spoken about Kirk in recent days, Cox said, adding that Robinson had sent messages on the Discord platform.
The governor said that authorities believe that Robinson acted alone. But an investigation is ongoing, he added.
“Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years,” Cox said. “The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10, and in that conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming” to Utah Valley University, he added.
“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” the governor said.
Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday at Utah Valley University.
Cox also addressed that there was speculation about writing on bullet casings used in the Kirk assassination. One of the alleged messages on one of the bullets read, “Hey, fascists! Catch,” he said. That casing has an up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols, he said.
Another one read, “Oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao,” Cox said. The third fired casing allegedly read “If you read this you are gay lmao.”
Three down arrow symbols are often associated with the left-wing antifa group, while “bella ciao” appears to come from an Italian “anti-fascist” anthem that had ties to communist or anarchist groups in Italy during World War II. The term has gained prominence in recent years among progressive groups.
The governor added that the casing that had been fired in the assassination had a message that read, “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?” An Epoch Times review of the term suggests the message is in reference to a graphic sexual meme involving the “furry” community.
Cox added that Robinson had become more political in recent days and was against Kirk’s viewpoints.
When asked about the anti-fascist bullet message, Cox said that he believes that it “speaks for itself.”
The first FBI agents arrived on the scene at Utah Valley University some 16 minutes after Kirk was shot on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel said at the news conference.
The bureau released the first photos of the suspect on Thursday morning, followed by the announcement of a cash reward and then the release of video of the suspect climbing down from the roof of a campus building and running away.
Detailing the timeline in the case, Patel said that “historic progress” was made in just 33 hours in finding the suspect.
“I want to express my deep gratitude to President Trump, the vice president, and the entire White House who have been so incredibly supportive with both resources and just personally to the FBI as a team,” Patel said. “They had our backs the entire way.”
Later in the news conference, Cox highlighted recent social media posts from Kirk that called on people to have “a human connection with someone you disagree with.”
“Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now,” Cox told reporters. “Not by pretending differences don’t matter, but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations.”
The governor added: “Words are not violence. Violence is violence.”
The governor further said that Kirk’s case has drawn so much response because an assassination is “much bigger than an attack on an individual.”
“It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times,” Cox said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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