Shooter in Charlie Kirk Assassination Arrested, Family Says He Was ‘Full of Hate’

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Law enforcement officials said Friday they had arrested the shooter in the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, capping a 33-hour nationwide manhunt that gripped the nation. "We got him," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said at a news conference. Cox said the suspect is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a Utah man who family members described as being motivated by politics, "full of hate and spreading hate." In the days leading up to the assassination, Kirk and another family member had talked about Kirk's upcoming appearance at Utah Valley University, discussing "why they didn't like him and the viewpoints that he had," Cox said. 

His clothes on the morning of the assassination matched the person in the security videos. On Thursday, a "family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff's Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident," Cox said.  

According to multiple media reports, Robinson confessed to the murder to his father, who helped law enforcement in arresting his son. 

The gunman used a 30-06 bolt-action rifle, Cox said.  

Robinson had messaged a roommate asking them to retrieve the rifle, Cox said. The roommate cooperated with law enforcement and, apparently, did not follow through.

Three unfired casings read: "Hey, fascist! Catch!," "oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao" -- an anti-fascist Italian song -- and, "if you read this, you are gay LMAO." The casing of the fired bullet read, "notices, bulges, OWO, what's this?"

The Utah governor concluded his portion of the press conference by urging the nation to turn Kirk's assassination into a catalyst for good. The assassination "is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals," Cox said. "This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been, and who we could be in better times."

Freedom of expression is foundational to the American ideal, Cox said.

"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," he said.

Cox quoted Kirk. 

"Charlie said, 'When people stop talking -- that's when you get violence.' He said, 'The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive. Welcome without judgment, love without condition, forgive without limit.' He said, 'Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much.'" 

 

He read another Kirk quote: "When things are moving very fast and people are losing their minds, it's important to stay grounded. Turn off your phone, read Scripture, spend time with friends, and remember internet fury is not real life. It's going to be OK."

Cox also cited Kirk as saying, "We as a culture have to get back to being able to have a reasonable agreement where violence is not an option." 

The Utah governor said his hope is that the tragedy is a turning point for a more grace-filled society. 

"To my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. …Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now -- not by pretending differences don't matter, but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations," Cox said.  

"I think we need more moral clarity right now. I hear all the time that 'words are violence' -- [but] words are not violence. Violence is violence. And there is one person responsible for what happened here, and that person is now in custody."

One problem with responding to violence with more violence, Cox warned, is that it "metastasizes."

"We can always point the finger at the other side, [but] at some point we have to find an off ramp, or it's going to get much, much worse," Cox said. "These are choices that we can make. History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country -- but every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us."

🙏 Gov. Cox shares a poignant message:

"Over the last 48 hours, I am as angry as I have ever been...but Charlie's words pulled me back.

He said when you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes easier to commit violence. We as a culture have to… pic.twitter.com/15jsMd0U8G

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 12, 2025

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/PATRICK T. FALLON/Contributor

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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