The man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk allegedly texted his friends about the attack less than two hours after it happened. On the morning of September 10, Tyler Robinson, 22, was messaging a friend on Discord, sharing results of the online word game Wordle.
Under an hour before the shooting, he guessed the answer “pouty” on his third try and sent a celebratory meme, to which his friend responded with one of their own, as per The Washington Post.
Prosecutors say that by then, Robinson had already been driving three hours from southern Utah to Utah Valley University in Orem, where Kirk was speaking at an outdoor Turning Point USA event. During the speech, Kirk was shot and later died from his injuries.
About 80 minutes after the shooting, Robinson reportedly messaged his friend, “You see this news?????”
Other texts read, “Utah gets a national headline for the first time in a while and it's someone sliming charlie kirk”, “no like an hour ago”,“he's reported dead, and the footage looks BAD.”
According to charging documents, Robinson told his roommate shortly after the shooting, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out.”
Friends described Robinson as someone who followed current events closely but showed no clear partisan bias. During the 2020 presidential election, he wrote on Discord. “[Joe] Biden is in the lead electoral votes wise, but there are still some swing states that haven't finished voting, as well as most of the west coast. raw votes donald is in the lead by a little over 1 million votes.”
They said he disliked bullies and “hateful people” and generally avoided confrontations.
In early 2024, Robinson moved into an apartment with two fellow gamers. Around this time, he began dating a roommate who was transitioning. Friends said that was the time when Robinson became more outspoken about transgender rights and critical of conservative fearmongering. His mother told authorities he “had started to lean more to the left.”
Prosecutors say he began preparing for the shooting more than a week before Kirk's Utah appearance, calling the event a “stupid venue” and accusing Kirk of spreading hatred.
Authorities reported that the bullet casings Robinson allegedly used were engraved with messages, including, “Hey Fascist! Catch!”
Friends said the markings referenced the video game Helldivers 2 and were unsure whether the messages targeted Kirk specifically.
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