Eighteen-year-old Tyler Robinson seemingly had a bright future ahead of him.
The Utah teen had scored in the top percentile on his college entrance exam and earned himself a four-year scholarship to Utah State University in Logan.
His proud mother posted a video on Facebook in which her firstborn son, the oldest of three, read aloud the school’s letter offering him the grant.
“He’s so excited to start his journey, and it’s going to be so amazing for him!” she wrote in another post.
Four years later, authorities say, Robinson fired a rifle shot on Tuesday from atop a building at another university campus, killing conservative influencer Charlie Kirk and triggering a new round of national anxiety over rising political violence.
Investigators are still working to understand what allegedly led Robinson to that rooftop. Officials have not yet identified a precise motive for the shooting, though they offered some clues on Friday morning in announcing his arrest.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters that a family member interviewed by law enforcement said Robinson had recently mentioned Kirk’s scheduled appearance at Utah Valley University, where he was shot.
“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints he had,” Cox said, without offering further details.
Robinson had also become more political in recent years, the family member told investigators, and authorities said he had engraved what appeared to be anti-fascist messages on bullet casings they found with the suspected murder weapon.
Robinson, now 22, was arrested for aggravated murder and other charges. He has no criminal history, according to state records reviewed by Reuters.
He was a registered voter but was not affiliated with a political party, according to voter records. He is listed as an “inactive” voter, which indicates he did not cast a ballot in last year’s presidential election, when Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris.
At the time of the shooting, Robinson was living at his parents’ house in Washington, a farming and residential community of approximately 28,000 near Zion National Park in southwestern Utah.
Robinson’s grey Dodge Challenger – the vehicle that authorities say he drove to the site of the shooting on Tuesday – was parked on Friday outside the two-story stucco home, in a relatively new housing development built among alfalfa fields.
Dozens of media members were gathered outside, along with half a dozen police cars parked along the street. Officers were stopping reporters from approaching the home.
A neighbour, Steven Green, said he knew the family from attending the same Mormon church down the street.
“Great family, good kids,” he said, though he added he did not know Tyler Robinson well.
Canaan Timothy, 21, said he was in the year below Robinson at high school. Robinson, he said, was just a regular student with an interest in music, who hung out with members of the school band.
“I knew him in passing. Just your average kid,” said Timothy, who lives two blocks from the Robinson family. “Tyler, he was quiet, but not too quiet.”
Robinson was arrested late on Thursday without incident after a family friend called authorities and said Robinson had either confessed or implied that he was responsible for Kirk’s murder, officials said.
Brief time at university
Robinson graduated in 2021 from Pine View High School in St. George, Utah. A video online of the commencement ceremony shows him carrying his diploma on stage as attendees cheer.
He briefly attended Utah State University in Logan for one semester that fall, the school confirmed to Reuters.
It was not immediately clear why he left, but Dixie Technical College, part of Utah’s public university system, confirmed that he is a third-year student in the school’s electrical apprenticeship program.
A Facebook post from his mother said Robinson had earned a score of 34 in high school on the ACT college entrance exam, which would put him in the top 1% of test takers, according to the Princeton Review test preparation company.
He has two younger brothers, according to his parents’ Facebook posts. His mother listed her job online as a social worker at a non-profit healthcare company, while his father is the principal of a company that makes stone countertops, according to state records.
His mother’s Facebook posts over the years – most of which were deleted on Friday – mostly doted on her family: documenting trips to Alaska, the Caribbean and Disneyland; celebrating school plays, Halloween costumes, and adopted pet rabbits; expressing pride as the three boys moved up in school.
None of the posts appeared overtly political.
Other posts show Robinson and his brothers occasionally with guns, though that is not uncommon in a state with permissive firearms laws.
Robinson’s arrest on Thursday evening capped a 33-hour manhunt for Kirk’s killer, which included the detention of two other persons of interest on Wednesday who were later released.
Robinson was booked into the Utah County jail in Spanish Fork, about 12 miles (19 km) south of the university where Kirk was shot. He has not yet been formally charged.
Tyler Robinson: What we know about the man accused of shooting Charlie Kirk dead
