On Sept. 10, 2025 Charlie Kirk was fatally shot in the neck while attending an audience of a speech and debate event at Utah Valley University.

Born on Oct. 14, 1993, Kirk grew to become an American right wing political activist, author and podcaster. He published many books and hosted The Charlie Kirk show. In later years he became acknowledged as one of the most prominent voices of the MAGA movement in the Republican party. In 2021 Kirk married his wife, Erika Kirk, seven years after meeting. The couple had two children.

The event Kirk attended on the afternoon of Sept. 10 was the first stop of his American Comeback Tour, a debate series organized by Turning Point USA, which is a conservative organization in which Kirk was a co-founder.

At 12:23 PM, Kirk was shot in the neck while engaging in a conversation with an audience member. The gunman was atop a building about 143 yards away. CCTV video footage showed the suspected gunman fleeing the rooftop after the shot was fired and running into a wooded area. Authorities believed the gunman arrived on campus at 11:52 AM. Later, a student at Utah Valley told CNN that they saw a man walking on the roof or around the roof two times within the prior two weeks. The student noted the behavior as weird and stated that a professor present at the time also recognized the man’s behavior and asked him if he was okay.

In the hours following the shooting, police revealed pictures of the suspected shooter and offered a $100,000 reward for any information that could lead to the potential arrest of the gunman. Recognizing his son from the pictures, Tyler Robinson’s father persuaded his son to turn himself in.

22 year-old Tyler Robinson was taken into custody on Sept. 12. On Sept. 16, Robinson was convicted of Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors have said they will be seeking the death penalty.

According to Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a family member of Robinson’s said that Robinson had become “more political” recently.

“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,”Cox said.

FBI director Kash Patel said that there was a note found that was written in Robinson’s home that withheld a message to “take out” Kirk. Patel also revealed that there was a DNA match between a towel wrapped around the murder weapon and the suspect. Robinson has no prior convictions or history of violence.

Investigators are also looking into Robinson’s social media accounts, and taking note of any instances involving Robinson that may allude to a motive or signs that anyone knew about the shooting beforehand.

A popular social media program, Discord, primarily used by gamers was Robinson’s platform of choice. A company spokesperson said that Robinson took responsibility for the shooting in a message reportedly sent two hours before he was arrested.

“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all, it was me at UVU yesterday. im (sic) sorry for all of this.” This message was allegedly sent by the suspect, which was reported by the Washington Post.

Investigators have also revealed messages that were written on the shell casings recovered from the scene. Two casings had words written on them that are related to online humor. The three messages written on the cases include:
“Notices bulge OwO what’s this?”
“If you read this, you are gay LMAO”
“Hey fascist! Catch!” Included on the casing was an upward, right and three downward arrows as well.

Robinson is currently in custody and has been charged with the murder of Kirk. A clear motive of the crime has not yet been revealed.