Legal analyst calls for more arrests in Charlie Kirk assassination

OREM, Utah — A legal analyst is calling for others to be charged after suspected killer Tyler Robinson was taken into custody Friday for allegedly assassinating Turning Point USA founder and conservative leader Charlie Kirk. 

“So, Tyler Robinson was communicating with someone(s) on discord prior to, and about the assassinat!on [sic] of Charlie Kirk,” Phil Holloway said on X. “Someone provided him with the rifle … This means there were others involved … That’s a conspiracy … More arrests need to be made.”

Robinson was arrested late Thursday night in the small town of St. George, Utah. 

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During a press briefing Friday morning, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Robinson allegedly discussed details of the crime with his roommate on the Discord app, sending messages about stowing and retrieving a rifle from a “drop point.” 

Holloway told Fox News Digital that if a person was in contact with Robinson about the alleged crime and knew that he intended to commit the crime, that person could be criminally liable. 

“But certainly if they were aware of the object of the conspiracy, i.e. the murder, then any co-conspirator who takes any affirmative act in that direction, whether it’s providing him the gun, whether it’s saying, ‘You got this,’ you know, like giving just words of encouragement could be enough, because during a conspiracy, the acts of one person are legally the acts of all co-conspirators,” he said. 

As of Friday morning, Cox said no additional arrests were expected. 

However, Holloway said that authorities should also be investigating how Robinson obtained the weapon, which could also lead to charges against another person. 

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“So, let’s say he got this gun, and the person who sold it or gave it to him had no idea. There might not be a conspiracy charge, but there could be gun charges involved,” he said. 

Holloway noted that it is possible Robinson could have had someone else purchase a gun for him, too, a practice called a “straw purchase.”

“If I go to a gun store and I buy a gun, I fill out the paperwork in my name and then turn around and hand it to you. That’s illegal because that’s called a straw purchase. You can’t use a straw man to make a gun purchase. That’s a very common federal firearm crime is making straw purchases. So that’s just one theoretical possibility that’s going through my head.”

Cox said during the briefing that Robinson’s family was involved in his surrender. 

“A family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” he said. 

The 22-year-old Robinson allegedly climbed onto the roof of the Losee Center on the campus of Utah Valley University midday Wednesday and shot Kirk in the neck once from about 200 yards away, killing him. Kirk was hosting the first event of his America’s Comeback tour at the time and was taking questions from attendees when the alleged assassin’s bullet struck and killed him. 

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He briefly attended Utah State University for a semester in 2021 but was in his third year at Dixie Technical College, completing an electrical apprenticeship program, according to the Utah Board of Higher Education. He had received Utah State’s highest scholarship, the Resident Presidential Scholarship. 

Family members told investigators Robinson had “become more political in recent years.”

“The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to Sept. 10,” Cox said. “In that conversation, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had.”

Investigators also spoke with Robinson’s roommate.

 

“Investigators interviewed that roommate who stated that his roommate, referring to Robinson, made a joke on Discord,” Cox explained. “The content of these messages included … a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point … messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left … engraving bullets … and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel.”

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Michael Ruiz, Julia Bonavita, David Spunt and CB Cotton contributed to this report.