“Someone very close” turned him in
President Donald Trump declared the arrest of the culprit in Charlie Kirk’s murder on Fox & Friends on Friday morning. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been named as the suspected murderer, according to many U.S. media publications, which cite anonymous sources.
”I think with a high degree of certainty we have him in custody,” Trump said during the interview.
Trump informed Fox News that “someone very close” to the suspect assisted in guiding investigators to them, as was previously reported. The president also said he hoped Charlie Kirk’s killer would be put to death.
Speaking on Fox & Friends, Trump said, “Kirk was the finest person and he didn’t deserve this.”
Trump, who just last year escaped two assassination attempts, found personal resonance in the association with Charlie Kirk.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, scaled the roof of a building close to a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, and started shooting.
The president’s ear was slightly wounded by one of the bullets, but Secret Service personnel promptly protected him.
Drawing comparisons
Social media users are now comparing pictures of the agents who used to protect Trump with the surveillance footage from Kirk’s deadly Utah incident.
“The guy behind Kirk sure looks familiar,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another added, “One of the guys making hand signals seconds before the shot looks awfully familiar.”
But fans were quick to set the record straight. “Not the same guy. The man in the Charlie Kirk video is his personal security guard and has traveled with him to multiple events,” one person clarified online.
Kirk was organizing an outdoor discussion at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, September 10, when the tragedy occurred.
“We heard a big loud shot, I saw a bunch of blood come out of Charlie, I saw his body kind of kick back and go limp, and everybody dropped to the ground,” Justin Hickens, who was approximately 60 feet from the shooting, told NBC News.
Ammo engraved with pro-trans message
In an official statement, the agency said, “Following the shooting, the individual jumps from a rooftop and flees the scene. Trace evidence collected includes shoe impressions, a forearm imprint, and a palm print. The shooter’s weapon and ammunition were recovered in a wooded area near the university.”
Authorities found the.30 caliber bolt-action hunting rifle used in the attack in a wooded area close to the school, where the shooter is thought to have fled on foot, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Wrapped in a towel, the rifle was found with a spent cartridge still in the chamber – and three unspent rounds in the magazine—and “ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology inside the rifle that authorities believe was used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk,” the WSJ reports.
Officials have not disclosed the precise text of the engravings, but according to various media, they seem to convey a message with political or social motivations.
The event’s security has also come under close scrutiny. Utah Valley University Chief of Police Jeff Long acknowledged that Kirk also had a personal security team there, although just six police officers were on duty throughout the discussion.
“You try to get your bases covered, and unfortunately, today, we didn’t. Because of that, we have this tragic incident,” Long said at a Wednesday press conference.