ABC News reporter Matt Gutman described the texts sent from suspected assassin Tyler Robinson to his trans-identifying boyfriend — in which he appears to confess to murdering conservative commentator Charlie Kirk — as “very touching.”
Gutman was reporting on the text exchange, which was released on Tuesday by authorities, when he commented on the fact that despite confessing to murdering someone in front of hundreds of college students — and putting their lives in danger as well — Robinson seemed to really care about his partner.
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.@mattgutmanABC says he found the messages between Charlie Kirk’s killer and his trans boyfriend “very touching, in a way, that I think many of us didn’t expect.” pic.twitter.com/8H4E1dFD3K
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 16, 2025
Gutman began by saying that he wasn’t sure “if we have seen an alleged murder with such specific text messages about the alleged murder weapon — where it was hidden, how it was placed, what was on it — but also it was very touching, in a way, that I think many of us didn’t expect — a very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect’s roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who is transitioning, calling him ‘my love.’ And ‘I want to protect you, my love.'”
“So, it was this duality of someone who the attorney said not only jeopardized the life of Charlie Kirk and the crowd, but was doing it in front of children, which is one of the aggravating circumstances of this case,” Gutman continued. “And then, on the other hand, he was, you know, speaking so lovingly about his partner. So a very interesting and, as Pierre said, riveting press conference.”
Gutman continued in the same vein a short time later, adding, “It’s heartbreaking on so many levels, Kyra. Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands …[O]n the other hand, there is this duality of a very a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family … the kid who had got a 34 out of 36 on the ACT, who had a 4.0.”
ABC’s Matt Gutman doubled down, ten minutes later after this on ABC News Live: “It’s heartbreaking on so many levels, Kyra. Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands…[O]n the other hand, there is this duality of a very a portrait of a very… pic.twitter.com/0ykDhsg1Ko
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 16, 2025
“I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a press conference in which we’ve read text messages that are A, so fulsome, so robust, so apparently, allegedly self-incriminating and yet, on the other hand, so touching — right — with the suspect reaching out to his roommate, who was allegedly his boyfriend, who we understand, you know, identified as male at birth, now identifies as female,” he said. “And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him. He kept calling him ‘my love.’ ‘My reason for doing this is to protect you,’ you know, but also asking him to delete the messages and not speak to law enforcement. So there’s this, this heartbreaking duality that we’re seeing very tragically playing out here.”