Tyler Robinson, 22, (pictured on Sept. 12, 2025) the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk, conservative Christian political activist. / Credit: Handout/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 15, 2025 / 18:01 pm (CNA).
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed that the man accused of killing Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk lived with a transgender partner who is cooperating with authorities in the ongoing investigation.
The suspected assassin is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a resident of St. George, Utah, which is about a three-and-a-half-hour drive south of Utah Valley University, where the shooting occurred. Formal charges are expected Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Although Robinson has exercised his right to remain silent while in custody and has not spoken to authorities, his live-in transgender partner and members of his family are cooperating with the investigation. He was arrested Thursday night, Sept. 11, the day after the shooting.
In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Sept. 14, Cox said the roommate of the alleged shooter "is a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female." He said the roommate "has been very cooperative with authorities."
"This person did not have any knowledge [and] was shocked … when he found out about it," the governor said. "The suspect has not been cooperating so far, and so we're getting all of this information from family members, again, people around the suspect, and then the forensic information that we have, which is confirming everything and more than what we were able to share in that initial press conference."
In a previous news conference, Cox said the roommate showed investigators messages that Robinson allegedly sent, which discussed engraving bullets, needing to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving a rifle in a bush, and wrapping a rifle in a towel.
Kirk was shot while answering a question about transgenderism and gun violence. Kirk said he supported an effort to ban transgender people from owning firearms in light of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota last month, which was carried out by a man who identified as a transgender person.
Throughout his career as a conservative activist, Kirk had been a critic of gender ideology, opposing allowing biological males in women's sports, transgender surgeries and drugs for children, and the promotion of transgenderism and homosexuality in K–12 schools.
FBI investigates suspect's communications
Cox said Robinson came "from a conservative family, but his ideology was very different" from his family's, and "there clearly was a leftist ideology with this [alleged] assassin."
"The 'why' behind this, again, we're all drawing lots of conclusions on how someone like this could be radicalized," he said.
FBI Director Kash Patel told "Fox & Friends" on Monday, Sept. 15, the agency will not "politicize this investigation." Rather, he said, "we are looking at the facts and that is why we are releasing the facts in record fashion."
"My job as FBI director is not to speak to motive; it's to speak to the facts, and that's what I'm going to do," he said.
"His family has collectively told investigators that he subscribed to left-wing ideology, and even more so in these last couple of years," Patel continued. "And [the suspect] had a text message exchange … with another individual in which he claimed that he had an opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and he was going to do it because of his hatred for what Charlie stood for."
Markings on bullet casings found by investigators included the phrase "Hey, fascist. Catch!" and lyrics to the Italian anti-fascist song "Bella Ciao."
Patel said the FBI has evidence of a since-destroyed note written before the assassination in which the suspect wrote that he had the opportunity to "take out" Kirk and planned to do so. He said "even though it has been destroyed, we have found forensic evidence of the note, and we have confirmed what … it says because of our aggressive interview posture." He said the FBI also has DNA evidence to link the suspect to the shooting.
According to Patel, the FBI is also investigating the suspect's conversations in chatrooms on the online messaging application Discord, and investigators will interview people with whom he conversed there.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Monday that the agency has evidence that the suspect may have communicated that "his target was obviously going to be Charlie [Kirk] and that people knew in advance."
Bongino said he does not "want anyone to jump to conclusions on this," noting this is a question of whether people knew in advance and kept it quiet or whether they thought "it was some type of joke."
"That's what we're trying to find out now," he said. "But I promise you, if there's a larger network here, we're going to get that out to the public as soon as we can."
The New York Times reported that in one Discord chat, friends of Robinson noted that he looked similar to the shooter. Robinson allegedly said the shooter was a "doppelganger" who was trying to "get me in trouble."
According to the Times, much of the communications appeared to be joking. After Robinson's arrest, the report noted that members were in disbelief with one saying: "I truly cannot distinguish if this is for real."
The Washington Post reported on a separate Discord chat in which Robinson was allegedly involved, which showed members expressing concern about the shooting with one saying Kirk "didn't deserve to go out like that."
Robinson allegedly told this chat: "I have bad news for you all," adding: "It was me at UVU yesterday. [I'm] sorry for all of this."
One friend reportedly urged the group to "pray for Tyler [Robinson] and his repentance" after the arrest.
Bongino said the FBI is looking into the man who asked the question about transgenderism and gun violence just before Kirk was shot at the event, but noted Kirk "was known to speak out about these issues" and that it is "not terribly uncommon for him to get questions like that."
The man who asked the question gave an interview to "Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan" late last week and denounced the assassination and political violence.
Bongino said the assassination was "an ideologically motivated attack" on a conservative.
"Family members said he'd become more political, leading us to believe that this ideology had infected him and had taken over," Bongino said.
