OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
9:15 AM – Friday, September 12, 2025
Authorities are now reporting they’ve identified and taken into custody the assassin who shot Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University (UVU).
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen — we got him,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R-Utah) said at the beginning of a Friday morning news conference.
The suspect responsible for the shot that took conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s life on Wednesday has been named as Tyler Robinson, 22 years old.
Investigators first announced that they would only release footage or images of the suspected shooter if their efforts to identify him proved unsuccessful. Shortly after this first announcement on Thursday morning, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released still images of Robinson, asking the public for tips, including pictures and videos.
The FBI offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the individual’s arrest. On Thursday evening, at a press conference that had been postponed due to “rapid developments” in the case, the FBI released several more images to the public, and a video of him on the roof where the deadly bullet was fired from, detailing the suspect’s clothing and continuing to ask for the public’s cooperation in their manhunt.
Earlier on Friday, President Donald Trump said on Fox and Friends, “with a high degree of certainty,” that the suspect was caught, praising law enforcement for their investigative work.
“A family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend, who contacted the Washington County Sherriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” Cox reported, explaining that the information was relayed to Utah law enforcement and the FBI.
Robinson was identified arriving at the college campus in a grey Dodge Challenger at about 8:29 A.M. on Wednesday. The family member who contacted authorities confirmed Robinson drove this model of car.
“Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years,” said Cox.
The governor said that the family member described a gathering that Robinson attended, where he mentioned that Charlie Kirk would be present at an event on the UVU campus.
“They talked about why they didn’t like [Kirk] and the viewpoints that he had,” Cox relayed. “The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”
Investigators also interviewed Robinson’s roommate, who revealed Reddit messages from the suspect “stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point,” as well as detailing where the rifle would be left.
The messages confirmed Robinson changed clothing between the time he arrived on campus and the time he fled the scene, which explains why he was earlier seen in shorts and a maroon shirt, while the images released show him wearing pants and a black shirt.
“The messages also referred to engraving bullets,” Cox said, referring to reports of messages left on the murder weapon, which may indicate possible motives.
According to the governor, inscriptions found on bullet casings included: “notices bulges OWO” (likely an emoticon), “Hey fascist! Catch!”, “Oh Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, ciao, ciao” and “if you read this, you are gay LMAO” — short for “laughing my ass off.”
The governor reported that the suspect was not a student attending UVU.
“I want to thank the family members of Tyler Robinson, who did the right thing in this case,” Cox said, before asking that people continue to think about the family of Charlie Kirk.
“This is what happens when you let good cops be cops,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The FBI and our partners are proud to stand here today together to bring justice to the family of Charlie Kirk and honor his memory.”
Governor Cox used his last moment at the podium to explain why there is so much focus on Kirk’s death.
“This is certainly about the tragic death — assassination — political assassination of Charlie Kirk, but it is also 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 states. “Political violence is different from any other type of violence for lots of different reasons.”
Cox lamented that Kirk’s life was ended while exercising his right to freedom of speech, “enshrined in our founding documents.”
“Having his life taken in that very act makes it more difficult for people to feel like they can share their ideas, that they can speak freely,” stated Cox. “We will never be able to solve all the other problems, including the violence problems that people are worried about, if we can’t have a clash of ideas safely and securely.”
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