Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested on Thursday night, 33 hours after he allegedly shot and killed conservative U.S. commentator and analyst Charlie Kirk in Utah. Besides aggravated murder, Tyler is likely to be charged with felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice.
According to U.S. media reports, the government agencies did not have a solid lead despite getting as many as 7,000 calls from the public offering potential clues. They did not know where the shooter had disappeared after claiming Kirk's life. However, they did release the available pictures of the person they believed to be the killer, a youth donning dark trainers, jeans, a full-sleeved T-shirt with the U.S. flag, a cap, and goggles.
The images sent chills through the spine of a man as they closely resembled his son. The man was indeed Tyler's father, who confronted the youth with a direct query. “Tyler, is this you? This looks like you,” he reportedly asked his son, CNN quoted a law enforcement official aware of the investigation as saying. While he confessed to having claimed Kirk's life, Tyler maintained that he was not willing to surrender before the law. Tired of his father's persistent pleas to give up, the accused reportedly declared: "I would rather kill myself than turn myself in."
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Tyler Robinson's father also tried to make Robinson confide in a youth pastor who works with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Service, CNN said. However, the accused's father finally managed to get the word to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office through a family friend. This is how the FBI and Utah County came to finally know about Robinson's whereabouts, the report said.
Charlie Kirk murder probe
Beau Mason, the commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, on Thursday revealed that the man who shot Charlie Kirk was of "college-age" and was able to blend in with the students at the Utah Valley University.
Pro-transgender and anti-fascist ideological messages were engraved on the ammunition recovered from a bolt-action rifle found in a wooded area. This was seen as a major clue regarding the motive of the assassin.
Earlier, two others were arrested after they were suspected of shooting Kirk. One of them was an elderly man, George Zinn, 71, who was dragged away in handcuffs. Hours later, police confirmed that he was not the shooter and had nothing to do with the killing.
The other person arrested by the FBI was Zachariah Qureshi, but he was released after interrogation.
