‘We got him,’ mentioned Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, confirming Robinson is the suspected shooter.
The suspect within the assassination of Charlie Kirk is Tyler Robinson, from Washington, Utah, officers confirmed on Friday morning.
“We got him,” mentioned Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in a information convention, confirming Robinson is the suspected murderer.
A member of the family informed native officers that Robinson had spoken about Kirk in current days, Cox mentioned, including that Robinson had despatched messages on the Discord platform.
The governor mentioned that authorities imagine that Robinson acted alone. However an investigation is ongoing, he added.
“Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years,” Cox mentioned. “The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10, and in that conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming” to Utah Valley College, he added.
“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” the governor mentioned.
Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday at Utah Valley College.
Cox additionally addressed that there was hypothesis about writing on bullet casings used within the Kirk assassination. One of many alleged messages on one of many bullets learn, “Hey, fascists! Catch,” he mentioned. That casing has an up arrow image, proper arrow image, and three down arrow symbols, he mentioned.
One other one learn, “Oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao,” Cox mentioned. The third fired casing allegedly learn “If you read this you are gay lmao.”
Three down arrow symbols are sometimes related to the left-wing antifa group, whereas “bella ciao” seems to come back from an Italian “anti-fascist” anthem that had ties to communist or anarchist teams in Italy throughout World Struggle II. The time period has gained prominence in recent times amongst progressive teams.
The governor added that the casing that had been fired within the assassination had a message that learn, “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?” An Epoch Instances evaluate of the time period suggests the message is in reference to a graphic sexual meme involving the “furry” group.
Cox added that Robinson had turn out to be extra political in current days and was in opposition to Kirk’s viewpoints.
When requested concerning the anti-fascist bullet message, Cox mentioned that he believes that it “speaks for itself.”
The primary FBI brokers arrived on the scene at Utah Valley College some 16 minutes after Kirk was shot on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned on the information convention.
The bureau launched the primary pictures of the suspect on Thursday morning, adopted by the announcement of a money reward after which the discharge of video of the suspect climbing down from the roof of a campus constructing and working away.
Detailing the timeline within the case, Patel mentioned that “historic progress” was made in simply 33 hours to find the suspect.
“I want to express my deep gratitude to President Trump, the vice president, and the entire White House who have been so incredibly supportive with both resources and just personally to the FBI as a team,” Patel mentioned. “They had our backs the entire way.”
Later within the information convention, Cox highlighted current social media posts from Kirk that referred to as on folks to have “a human connection with someone you disagree with.”
“Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now,” Cox informed reporters. “Not by pretending differences don’t matter, but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations.”
The governor added: “Words are not violence. Violence is violence.”
The governor additional mentioned that Kirk’s case has drawn a lot response as a result of an assassination is “much bigger than an attack on an individual.”
“It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times,” Cox mentioned.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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