Tyler James Robinson

Tyler James Robinson is charged in Utah’s Fourth Judicial District Court with the aggravated murder of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, who was shot and killed on September 10, 2025 while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem. Robinson, whom the charging document lists with a 2003 date of birth, surrendered the following evening and was charged on September 16, 2025. On September 1, 2026 a judge bound him over for trial on all seven counts and he pleaded not guilty. He has not been tried. The account below of the shooting and of Robinson’s alleged statements comes from the prosecution’s charging document and from evidence offered at a preliminary hearing, which decides only whether there is probable cause for a trial; none of it has been tested before a jury.

The killing itself is covered in the timeline entry.

Surrender and Charges

According to the probable cause statement filed with the charges, Robinson went to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on the evening of September 11, 2025 with his parents and a family friend, a retired deputy sheriff, and turned himself in. That was about 33 hours after the shooting, during which police had published surveillance images of the suspect and asked the public to help identify him.

The Utah County Attorney’s Office filed an Information on September 16, 2025 charging seven counts:

1. Aggravated murder, a capital felony
2. Felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, a first degree felony
3. Obstruction of justice, a second degree felony — concealing the rifle
4. Obstruction of justice, a second degree felony — disposing of the clothing worn during the shooting
5. Tampering with a witness, a third degree felony — telling his roommate to delete text messages
6. Tampering with a witness, a third degree felony — telling his roommate to stay silent if questioned by police
7. Violent offense committed in the presence of a child, a class A misdemeanor

Count 1 rests on the aggravating circumstance that Robinson “knowingly created a great risk of death” to people other than Kirk. Counts 1, 2 and 7 also carry a victim targeting enhancement under Utah law, alleging that Robinson selected Kirk “because of Tyler James Robinson’s belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk’s political expression.” That same afternoon Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray filed notice that the state would seek the death penalty, and Robinson made his first court appearance by livestream from the Utah County Jail.

The Prosecution’s Allegations

The probable cause statement, submitted by Brian Davis of the Utah State Bureau of Investigation, alleges that campus surveillance cameras recorded a person in dark clothing climbing from a public walkway onto a roof about 160 yards from Kirk shortly before the shot, crawling into a prone position, and then running from the roof carrying an object shaped like a rifle. Investigators found a bolt-action rifle wrapped in a towel in a wooded area at the northeast end of campus, holding one fired and three unfired cartridges. The document states that DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger, other parts of the rifle, the fired casing, two of the unfired cartridges and the towel.

Each cartridge, according to the document, bore an etched inscription. They included lyrics from the Italian song “Bella ciao” and the phrase “Hey Facist! Catch!”, spelled that way in the filing. The filing quotes a later text message, attributed to Robinson, describing the inscriptions as “mostly a big meme.”

On motive, the document relies on what Robinson’s parents and roommate told police. His mother is recorded as saying that over the previous year he had “become more political” and had started “to lean more to the left,” and that before the event he had accused Kirk of spreading hate. His parents told police that when they confronted him he implied he was the shooter, and that when asked why, he said “there is too much evil and the guy [Charlie Kirk] spreads too much hate.” His roommate, with whom the document says he was in a romantic relationship, gave police a photograph of a note reading “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it,” and a text exchange in which Robinson is alleged to have written, in answer to the question why: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Pretrial Proceedings

The case is before 4th District Judge Tony Graf. On February 24, 2026 he denied a defence motion to disqualify the Utah County Attorney’s Office, which had been based on a prosecutor’s daughter having attended the event; he ruled that she had no relevant information other attendees did not also have and that her presence had no effect on the charging decision.

Several pretrial rulings concerned publicity and courtroom access. On May 8, 2026 Graf moved the preliminary hearing from May 18 to July 6–10 and refused the defence’s request to bar cameras and microphones from the courtroom. On June 1 he denied a motion to close all or part of the preliminary hearing, and ordered Gray and Deputy County Attorney Christopher Ballard to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of his pretrial publicity order. On June 26 he held Ballard in civil contempt for publicly saying there was “ample evidence” of Robinson’s guilt, while finding that Ballard’s statements correcting press reports about an ATF ballistics analysis did not violate the order. He declined the defence’s request to strike the death penalty as a sanction, said he would consider expanded jury selection procedures, and ordered the defence’s costs of the contempt motion reimbursed. On July 2 the Utah Supreme Court denied Robinson’s petitions for permission to appeal two of Graf’s orders: the one allowing cameras, and the one allowing a video-recorded interview with his former roommate to be used at the preliminary hearing in place of live testimony.

The preliminary hearing ran from July 6 to July 10, 2026 in Provo. Prosecutors presented evidence about the rooftop and the campus surveillance video, testimony about the surrender, and the recorded interview in which the former roommate told investigators that Robinson had confessed and had expressed regret. Forensic witnesses testified about the DNA analysis; ATF DNA Section Chief Caitlin Oliver said that “with forensic evidence, it’s impossible to state with 100% certainty anything.” The defence contested the use of hearsay and the reliability of the DNA evidence.

At closing arguments on September 1, 2026, prosecutor Ryan McBride argued that “the defendant’s views were repugnant to the positions that Charlie Kirk famously took.” Defence attorney Richard Novak said there was “no evidence as to really what was in Mr. Robinson’s mind,” and Staci Visser argued that the Count 1 aggravating circumstance could not apply: “There is one act, there is one shot, there is one bullet, there is one victim.” Graf found probable cause on all seven counts and bound Robinson over for trial, allowing the aggravating circumstance to stand at that stage without ruling on its merits. Not guilty pleas were entered on every count, and the state continues to seek the death penalty.

No trial date has been set. Graf ordered both sides to file proposals on trial preparation and length by October 21, 2026, for a pretrial conference on October 23. Ahead of that hearing the defence again opposed a media request to film the proceedings.

What Is Not Established Here

Robinson has not been tried, and nothing on this page states as fact that he shot Kirk. The charging document’s account and the preliminary hearing evidence are the prosecution’s case, presented under a probable cause standard and, in the roommate’s case, through a recorded interview rather than live testimony. The motive the state alleges, including the victim targeting enhancement, rests on statements attributed to Robinson by his parents and roommate and on messages the state says he wrote; whether those statements are his, and what they show, are matters for trial.

Several things widely reported about Robinson are not asserted here because no record checked for this page establishes them: his education and employment, any political affiliation or voter registration, and his online activity. No affiliations, platforms or image are claimed. The outcome of the October 23, 2026 conference, and any trial date set there, post-date this page.