Prosecutors charge Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer with murder, seek death penalty
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The news: Prosecutors in Utah have charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with aggravated murder in the assassination of American conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and said they will seek the death penalty.
Announcing the charges, Utah county attorney Jeff Gray said he did “not take this decision lightly”.
“It is a decision I have made as county attorney based solely on the available evidence and circumstances”, he said.
Robinson also faces charges of felony discharge of a firearm, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and committing a violent offence in the presence of a child.
The suspect is being held without bail and authorities said they believe he acted alone.
Later, Robinson appeared in court by video link wearing a green suicide-prevention smock, speaking only to state his name as judge Tony Graf appointed him a lawyer and set his next hearing for 29 September.
The context: According to court documents cited by media, Robinson’s parents recognised him in surveillance images released after the shooting at Utah Valley University last week and persuaded him to surrender.
Investigators reported finding DNA on the rifle used, and charging documents said Robinson left a note under a keyboard that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
In text messages reproduced by prosecutors, the suspect admitted being the gunman, writing: “I had enough of his hatred” and “some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Prosecutors also said he also urged his partner to delete the messages and stay silent if questioned by police and wrote that he had been planning the shooting “a bit over a week.”
Ammunition found with the weapon was engraved with phrases including “Hey fascist! Catch!” which he later told his partner were “mostly a big meme.”
Trump and Utah governor Spencer Cox both had called for the death penalty, with Cox describing the killing as a “political assassination.”
Trump has also said he would award Kirk, who founded the conservative group Turning Point USA more than a decade ago, the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.
Kirk became one of the most influential organisers of young conservatives, rallying them to causes that helped fuel Trump’s political campaigns.
The sources: NBC News , The New York Times, Bloomberg, CBS News
