Charlie Kirk was shot dead on the Utah Valley University campus this week, and after almost two days of searching, authorities believe that they’ve captured the man responsible. According to CNN, it was announced that authorities apprehended 22-year-old Tyler Robinson after a family member reached out to a friend who contacted law enforcement, claiming that Robinson “had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” said Utah Governor Spencer Cox. The family told investigators that Tyler had spoken negatively of Kirk prior to the fatal shooting. At this time, Robinson is being held in Utah County Jail on aggravated murder charges.
At a press conference this morning, Governor Cox revealed the messages that Robinson had scribbled on the ammunition he brought to kill Kirk; they included, “Hey fascist! Catch!”, “notices, bulges, OWO, what’s this?”, “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao,” and “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.” The “fascist” round also had a series of arrows written on it that is said to be a video game code related to dropping a bomb.
Robinson was born and raised in Washington, Utah, and is said not to have a political party affiliation, nor did he vote in the previous two elections. However, his family says he “had become more political in recent years” and voiced open displeasure with Kirk in particular.
At the press conference, Gov. Cox thought himself calling for peace but in the process made a stunningly ignorant admission that he prayed for the alleged shooter to be “someone from another country” saying that he thought it would “make it easier on us” if the killer wasn’t American so that he could brag that “we don’t do that here.”
This is a wildly moronic sentiment that blatantly ignores the long and bloody history of assassinations in the United States committed by both the government and private citizens. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton, John F. Kennedy Jr., Medgar Evers, and countless others have fallen victim to violence over their views. Charlie Kirk is not the first or the most prominent person to be killed in this fashion. The governor likely knows this and instead of telling the truth, chose to sanitize America with xenophobia and jingoism.
We will continue updating this story as more information becomes available.
