After allegedly shooting conservative commentator Charlie Kirk during a speaking event at Utah Valley University last week, suspect Tyler James Robinson texted his roommate and confessed, according to charging documents submitted Tuesday.
In a news conference announcing the charges, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said Robinson told his roommate to “drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard.” Underneath the keyboard, Gray said, a note read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
The roommate, whom authorities say was in a romantic relationship with Robinson and is transgender, asked if Robinson was being serious and if he was the person who killed Kirk.
“I am, I’m sorry,” Robinson replied.
They later asked Robinson why he did it, court records state. “I had enough of his hatred,” Robinson allegedly wrote. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Prosecutors charged Robinson with seven offenses: aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; discharge of a firearm, a first-degree felony; two counts of obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies; two counts of tampering with a witness, third-degree felonies; and a misdemeanor count of violent offense committed in the presence of a child, according to charging documents. Gray said he would seek the death penalty for Robinson.
Robinson is accused of shooting Kirk as the 31-year-old pundit and political activist answered a question at a Turning Point USA event at the Orem university last Wednesday. It was the first stop on Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour.”
The roommate also asked Robinson how long he had been planning the shooting, and Robinson said it had been “a bit over a week,” according to court records.
The texts outlined in the charging documents largely focused on Robinson’s attempt to retrieve a bolt-action rifle from the wooded area where he allegedly dropped it after the shooting. Later, Robinson said to “delete this exchange” and “if any police ask you questions ask for a lawyer and stay silent,” the court records allege.
Investigators said they found multiple bullets and a spent round inside the discarded rifle. Robinson, according to the filing, said in the text exchange that he had engraved messages on bullets and that they were “mostly a big meme.”
Robinson also expressed worry and remorse that he had involved the roommate by messaging them, court records show. “To be honest,” he allegedly wrote, “I had hoped to keep this secret [until] I died of old age.”
Near the end of the conversation, according to court records, Robinson said he was going to turn himself in. “You are all I worry about love,” he allegedly wrote.