As investigators work to piece together the case against Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin, many questions remain surrounding the events leading up to and immediately after the moment the fatal shot was fired.
Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, sparking a massive manhunt as authorities raced to find the conservative activist’s killer.
Less than two days later, Tyler Robinson was arrested in St. George, Utah after his family confronted him regarding his resemblance to law enforcement photos of the suspect – leading him to admitting his involvement, according to authorities. Last week, prosecutors began outlining their case against Robinson when he appeared in court to face aggravated murder and other charges.
However, many questions surrounding Robinson’s alleged actions leading up to and after the shooting, along with a potential motive or possibility of co-conspirators, remain unanswered.
“[Investigators] have to find this happy medium about sharing information that the public needs to know while maintaining some level of secrecy,” Peter Valentin, chair of the Forensic Science Department at the University of New Haven and a former Connecticut State Police detective, told Fox News Digital. “So you don’t give away whatever tactical advantage you have.”Surveillance video captured Robinson arriving on campus at approximately 8:30 a.m. on the morning of the shooting, according to authorities. Several hours later, police say Robinson was seen on video walking with a limp through a nearby neighborhood toward the school – just minutes before the fatal shot was fired.
However, the suspect’s full escape route and movements after the shooting have yet to be revealed.
“Investigators are going to canvas the neighborhood and watch all that footage to see if there’s a vehicle making its way towards the campus, and then subsequently making its way from the campus after the shooting,” Valentin said. According to police, Robinson climbed onto a nearby rooftop and fired off a single round – killing Kirk.
Valentin suggested video of Robinson allegedly climbing from the top of the building indicates he intended to take advantage of the chaotic moments after the shooting to make his escape.
“There’s clearly really no concern about whether anybody was going to see him leaving the scene, as he just jumped off the roof,” Valentin said. “If you take a look at what’s going on at the time of the video being captured, everyone is running from the amphitheater area. So you can imagine people’s ability to take note of things like this is probably somewhat diminished.”
After the shooting, investigators discovered a bolt-action rifle wrapped in a towel and stashed in a nearby wooded area. Text messages allegedly sent by Robinson to his roommate in the immediate aftermath suggest he intended to return for his weapon, with experts pointing to several signs that could indicate if he truly intended to conceal the firearm. “It might be as simple as, was there any evidence of any attempt to conceal the firearm – as opposed to it being dropped on the ground?” Valentin told Fox News Digital. “It’s hard to understand why he would have had to leave the rifle, unless he was concerned about not being able to leave the area quickly enough to avoid being searched or having his vehicle stopped.”
In the charging documents, prosecutors revealed the gun previously belonged to Robinson’s grandfather.
“It seems like this gun was in the family, so then that aspect of the investigation probably does not have the prominence it might have in other kinds of cases,” Valentin said. While trying to piece together Robinson’s alleged motive, authorities uncovered messages sent by the suspect to his roommate, according to court documents.
Robinson, 22, allegedly admitted to killing Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred,” and that “some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Valentin suggested that investigators could face several hurdles when trying to link Robinson to the messages allegedly sent from his account, such as locating the IP address of the device the texts were transmitted from. He also noted the messages could indicate if Robinson worked with a co-conspirator – an unanswered question that remains a key point in the investigation.
“As important as the timing of the messages are the timing of the responses,” Valentin said. “Because I know there has been some reporting on responses to his message in Discord suggesting what could be termed as ‘knowledge of the attack.’ And law enforcement will have to assess whether or not the conversations that are happening demonstrate an awareness of the pending attack.” In addition to the messages, investigators can also use DNA evidence collected from the alleged murder weapon – or the towel it was wrapped in – to determine if Robinson acted alone or with someone else, according to Valentin. “I would not be surprised if the actual results of the testing were to indicate that there were other DNA profiles on the towel, DNA profiles that are, as of right now at least, unknown,” Valentin told Fox News Digital. “And the investigators would like to figure out whose DNA that is, because if you’re drawing the inference that someone’s DNA on the towels means that they had handled it at about the time of the shooting, having more than one DNA profile means that you potentially have more than one person contributing to this.”
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