Cox shares Kirk’s messages of faith, dialogue and forgiveness
The man who allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk did so because he hated the views of the Christian conservative youth activist, said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who added that the investigation into his motives is ongoing.
Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old resident of Washington County, Utah, has been identified as the shooter who killed Kirk during at around 12:20 p.m. MT Wednesday during a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University. Robinson was taken into custody after a family member, believed to be his father, turned him in.
At a press conference held around 8 a.m. local time Friday morning, Cox explained that a family member of Robinson said he “had become more political in recent years” and gave an example of a conversation that took place at a family dinner before the shooting.
“In a conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU,” Cox recounted. “They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had.”
Read: Charlie Kirk murder suspect in custody, Trump says: ‘I think we have him’
Investigators also interviewed Robinson’s roommate, who directed authorities to messages that the alleged shooter made on Discord about retrieving and leaving a rifle, as well as engraving bullets.
Cox read out the various engravings on the bullet casings, one of which included the statement “Hey fascist! Catch!” with the governor noting that the word “catch” was as in catching a ball.
Another unfired bullet casing included the repeated statement “Bella Ciao,” which likely refers to an Italian ballad known for being an anti-fascist anthem.
A separate engraving on a bullet casing had Furry sexual memes, such as “Notices, bulges, OWO, what’s this?”
Cox said that while “the investigation is ongoing,” it is generally believed by investigators that Robinson acted alone and that authorities do not expect any further arrests.
Cox also spoke emotionally about the “watershed” moment of Kirk’s murder, imploring people of all political persuasions to repudiate political violence and be more civil in disagreements.
“This is our moment. Do we escalate or do we find an off ramp?” he said. “Again, it’s a choice, it’s a choice, and every one of us gets to make that choice.”
“It is also 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 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 said that, amid his anger and sadness over the tragedy, it was the words of Kirk himself that helped the governor recover, quoting the late conservative activist, “when people stop talking, that’s when you get violence.”
“He (Kirk) said, ‘The weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong,’” Cox continued. “‘The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.’”
An influential conservative activist, Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday when the gunman fatally shot him in the neck.
UVU was put on lockdown while Kirk was rushed to a local hospital, with the 31-year-old husband and father of two young children dying from his wound soon after the shooting.
At a press conference held Thursday morning, FBI Special Agent Robert Bohls said that authorities recovered a “high-powered bolt-action rifle” believed to be the murder weapon and also found shoe prints, a palm print and forearm imprints in a wooded area near campus that the shooter had fled to.
Later that day, FBI Salt Lake City issued a brief statement saying they were offering up to $100,000 for any information that led “to the identification and arrest of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk.”
The FBI office also released a couple of images showing a person of interest. Later, another press conference was held in which authorities released four additional images and a video showing a suspect jumping off the roof of a building after the shooting.
On Friday morning, President Donald Trump told Fox News in an interview that “I think, with a high degree of certainty, we have him — in custody … everyone did a great job.”
“I hope that he [is] going to be found guilty, I would imagine, and I hope he gets the death penalty,” the president added. “Charlie Kirk was the finest person; he didn’t deserve this. He worked so hard and so well. Everybody liked him. I’ve been watching, even the Left is having a hard time.”
