Charlie Kirk shooting suspect not cooperating with authorities, says Utah Governor

The man arrested in the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk is not cooperating with authorities, but investigators are working to establish a motive for the shooting by talking to his friends and family, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said on Sunday (September 14, 2025).

Mr. Cox said the accused gunman, Tyler Robinson (22), would be formally charged on Tuesday (September 16, 2025). He remains in custody in Utah.

Investigators have yet to piece together why Robinson allegedly scaled a rooftop at Utah Valley University during an outdoor event and shot Kirk in the neck at long range on Wednesday (September 10, 2025).

Kirk, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and co-founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was killed by a single rifle shot during the event attended by 3,000 people in Orem, about 40 miles south (65 km) of Salt Lake City. The killing ushered in newfound fears of a spike in political violence in the United States and an ever-deepening divide between the left and the right.

Robinson has not confessed to investigators, Mr. Cox told in the ABC program “This Week”.

“He is not cooperating, but all the people around him were cooperating, and I think that’s very important,” the Republican Governor said.

Investigators found messages engraved into four bullet casings, which included references to memes and video game in-jokes. An affidavit filed by authorities in the case described these messages.

Robinson, a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship programme at Dixie Technical College, part of Utah’s public university system, was taken into custody at his parents’ house, about 260 miles (420 km) southwest of the crime scene, after a 33-hour manhunt.

Relatives and a family friend alerted authorities that he had implicated himself in the crime, Mr. Cox said previously.

A memorial event for Kirk will be held on September 21 in Glendale, Arizona, his organisation said.