Days after Tyler Robinson was turned in by his father for allegedly shooting MAGA firebrand Charlie Kirk, Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby revealed how the accused surrendered.
Tyler, 22, allegedly planned the attack a week before the tragic shooting at Utah Valley University on September 9. He used a bolt-action-rifle that originally belonged to his grandfather and was later gifted to him. The details about the gun and his CCTV footage led his father Matt Robinson to question him.
Tyler admitted that it was him in the grainy photos released by the FBI, following which Matt urged his son to surrender. The father then approached a pastor friend who convinced a hesitant Tyler to surrender.
Sheriff Brooksby said a retired detective who knew Tyler's family through "religious association" helped the suspect turn himself in. "Tyler's family trusted this individual. They knew he was involved in law enforcement. They trusted that they could go to this individual and he could contact me directly and we could facilitate a peaceful, calm and relaxed surrender," Daily Mail quoted Brooksby as saying.
Recounting the chilling phone call that he received 33 hours after the shooting, Brooksby said the voice of his retired detective friend was shaky. "So my first thought is, "who died?"' The voice on the other side then told him that he identified the suspect and he could not fathom what he just heard.
"Hey, I know who the Charlie Kirk shooter is. I know the family through religious association and he's in Washington County now and we're working on trying to get him to come in voluntarily," the sheriff quoted his retired friend as saying.
The retired cop then added that Tyler was showing suicidal tendencies but his parents talked him out of it and they wanted to help him surrender peacefully. Brooksby then informed Sheriff Mike Smith of Utah County where Charlie Kirk was shot dead.
Soon the retired cop drove Tyler and his parents Matt and Amber Jones Robinson to Brooksby's office where he was met by detectives in plain clothes. "Our job [at the Washington County Sheriff's Office] was not to interview, our job was just to get him there," the sheriff said.
Police found Tyler's DNA on the trigger of the bolt-action rifle, the towel used to wrap the weapon and a screwdriver found on the roof from where the shot was fired at Kirk.