Robinson, a Utah resident, had fled the scene on Wednesday after allegedly shooting Kirk in the neck in front of a large crowd at Utah Valley University. But when speaking to a relative the following day, he reportedly confessed or implied that he had committed the murder. The chain of events that lead to his arrest remains unclear, but according to CNN, Robinson’s father recognized his son from photos released by the FBI, and contacted a local youth pastor, who “works with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.” A family friend then reportedly contacted that office, which passed the information along to Utah state authorities and the FBI.
Robinson’s father then persuaded his son on Thursday evening to surrender to the police, who arrested him on suspicion of the crimes of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, and obstruction of justice. “We are confident we have the right individual in custody,” an FBI spokesman said at a press conference announcing the arrest, “but we are still working to establish the full picture of who he is and why he acted.”
Theories regarding why, exactly, Robinson chose to shoot Kirk swirled on both sides of America’s political divide in the hours after his arrest—but a clearer picture is beginning to come into focus. Robinson, who had enrolled in an electrical apprentice program after attending Utah State for less than one year, had no prior arrests and hailed from a quiet, predominantly Mormon suburb. Family members told investigators that he had become more political in recent years and had discussed his dislike of Kirk with a family member at a dinner.
“It’s very clear to us and to the investigators that this was a person who was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” Cox told reporters on Friday. In an interview with NBC News over the weekend, the Utah governor noted that, although Robinson came from a “conservative family,” Robinson’s own ideology “was very different.” Cox also confirmed that Robinson had been living with a “boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female,” who has been “very cooperative” with authorities. The Utah governor added that more information about Robinson’s motives would be released on Tuesday, when prosecutors plan to file charges.
Cox declined to enter into too much detail on the exact details of Richardson’s radicalization, claiming that investigators still needed to gather more information from his partner, his family, and eventually Robinson himself, whom Cox said was not yet cooperating with law enforcement. He did note, however, that Robinson’s radicalization likely happened quickly—sometime after Robinson dropped out of Utah State in 2021 or 2022—and that friends had confirmed that Robinson was deeply involved in the “dark corners of the internet.”
Robinson, who grew up hunting, also appeared to leave clues as to his motives on his murder weapon, an imported Mauser bolt-action rifle that was recovered in the woods near the area where Kirk was shot. Robinson had engraved slogans on unfired bullet casings, many of which seem related to online gaming culture. “Hey fascist! Catch! ↑ → ↓↓↓,” for example, is taken from Helldivers 2—a game inspired by Starship Troopers, which parodies fascism. “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao”—found on another casing—are the lyrics from a popular Italian folk song associated with anti-fascist partisan groups, and also a core part of a main story mission from the game Far Cry 6. Other casings were engraved with, “If you are reading this you are gay LMAO” and “notices bulges OwO what’s this?”—an ironic online phrase often used to make fun of “furries” (people who dress up as anthropomorphic animal characters).
Despite all of Robinson’s online messaging, Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow in the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, told TMD that it would be premature to assume he was part of some organized digital community. “As a professional, I see [the murder] as a symptom of the disease of the desire for feeling seen, for feeling heard, for forming engagement and content, and just being famous,” he said. On Sunday, the New York Times reported that, before he turned himself in on Thursday, Robinson was joking with friends in a Discord group chat that Kirk’s killer was his “doppelganger.”
Even before his assassin was captured, Kirk had become a martyr for a shocked and grieving American right. Canceling his attendance at a 9/11 memorial event, Vice President J.D. Vance flew to Utah on Air Force Two to personally collect Kirk’s remains and transport them to his home state of Arizona. Kirk’s widow, Erika, waved to flag-carrying supporters from a motorcade transporting Kirk’s body to a chapel in Phoenix on Thursday evening with a rosary in her hand. “If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea, you have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world,” she proclaimed in a tearful address to supporters on Friday. “My husband’s voice will remain.”
While most American political leaders have sought to at least temporarily cast aside political differences in the aftermath of Kirk’s murder, a vocal minority has doubled down on division. Few, if any, elected Democrats have equivocated about the immorality of the shooting, but it’s easy to find lefties mocking or even celebrating the murder on social media. It’s just as easy to find people on the right using Kirk’s assassination as a pretext for a broader “war” against the left.
Indeed, numerous Trump administration officials have declared that they plan to pursue retribution on a broader scale. Rejecting a proposed comparison between right- and left-wing radicalism by a Fox News host, Trump on Friday said that the “radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.” On Wednesday, the president had vowed to punish “each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.”
Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller also signaled plans to pursue alleged radical leftist networks, writing on X that the “fate of millions depends upon the defeat of this wicked ideology.” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau implied on X that the State Department would re-evaluate the legal status of immigrants who mock Kirk’s death, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also directed staff to identify any members of the military who defended or mocked Kirk’s murder, reportedly resulting in multiple firings.
However, Trump also called for those angered by Kirk’s death to respond peacefully. And on Sunday, Cox said that the White House had asked him to speak to national media “because they’re worried about the escalation that’s happening out there.”
Regardless, an atmosphere of fear increasingly hangs over U.S. politics, even though politically motivated murder is still extremely uncommon in the U.S. Following Kirk’s murder, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, postponed two public events. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina running for governor, said she would be canceling all outdoor and public events indefinitely.
But as candlelight vigils for Kirk continue to take place across the country—with an event hosted by Turning Point USA, the student activist organization he founded, slated for September 21— some U.S. leaders hope that this time, Americans will realize that their politics has come to an unacceptably divisive point. “If your view of America is not shaken right now, then there’s something wrong with you,” Cox told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “Every one of us has to look in the mirror and decide, are we going to try to make it better, or are we going to make it worse?”
