Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, grew up in a quiet, close-knit community in Washington, Utah, where most neighbors attended the same neighborhood church and know each other by their first name.
“I’m shocked,” said Kristin Schwiermann, a 66-year-old neighbor. “That’s not the kid I knew.”
Like most of the people in the community, Robinson, his parents and two brothers attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints church less than a mile away, Scwiermann said.
So it was strange to Schwiermann and others when the quiet neighborhood became filled with strange vans, SUVs and other unmarked police cars at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday. She wondered if it had anything to do with the shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, but she had no inkling it would involve Tyler Robinson.
Three doors down, inside the Robinson home, a drama was unfolding.
Tyler Robinson’s father, Matt, came to realize his son was the focus of a desperate manhunt as images of him in a long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans began flashing across television and computer screens nationwide.
The family called their church bishop — also a neighbor — when Robinson threatened to take his own life, according to a law enforcement source who was not authorized to discuss the investigation.
This photo released by the Utah Governor’s Office shows Tyler Robinson.
(Utah Governor’s Office via Associated Press)
Robinson had been close to his parents and two brothers growing up, and would often go on outings camping or hunting, Schwiermann said. According to public records, both of his parents held hunting licenses.
“They’re close, hardworking and smart,” she said.
Robinson attended Riverside Elementary, about a half-mile away from the family home, and where Schwiermann also worked as head custodian.
“He was quiet, but he had friends in school, and he never caused problems,” Schwiermann said.
He had been regularly active in the church when he was a child, but she said he attended less as he grew older.
He graduated from Pine View High School in St. George in 2021, and Schwiermann described him as bright and good with his schoolwork, which helped him earn a scholarship.
His mother, Amber Robinson, wrote on her Facebook page in 2020 about her son’s college aptitude test score, and posted a video of Robinson reading a letter for a scholarship.
Robinson attended Utah State University in 2021, where he majored in engineering, but took leave after one semester.
He later attended Dixie Technical College, where school officials said he was in his third year of study in the electrical apprenticeship program.
There are no signs that Robinson has a criminal record in the state of Utah, based on his name and birth date.
Robinson had registered as nonpartisan in Utah, while both of his parents were registered Republicans, according to registration data reviewed by The Times. His father worked with granite countertops and his mother was a licensed social worker.
A man prays at a makeshift memorial set up at Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix after the shooting death of Charlie Kirk.
(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
At a press conference announcing Robinson’s arrest Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said a family member told investigators, “Robinson had become more political in recent years,” and expressed dislike for Kirk, who Robinson said was “full of hate” and “spreading hate.”
Investigators are still looking through evidence and trying to determine a motive in the slaying.
Along with a bolt-action rifle that was abandoned in a wooded area, investigators also recovered ammunition that bore various markings, according to authorities.
Engraving on one bullet casing in the rifle read, “Hey fascist! Catch!” according to Cox.
Other casings bore references to memes from online chat rooms, including “notices, bulges, OwO, what’s this?” and “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.” One was etched with lyrics from an Italian antifascism song from World War II
When asked about the motive of the gunman, Cox suggested the “Hey fascist” marking clearly showed the gunman’s intent: “I think that speaks for itself,” he said.
But experts in extremism said it was too early to ascribe a motive, especially based on the markings on ammunition.
“It is increasingly difficult to immediately ascribe motivation as many lone young assailants are often a mix of grievance, mental distress and aggressions picked up in social circles and online,” said Brian Levin, professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino and founder of its Center for the Study of Hate.
“Verbiage, memes, targeting, crude humor and cultural references that are immediately available often telegraph motives for violent symbolic attacks, but can also be amorphous or disjointed,” he said.
Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism at Boston University and an expert on extremism, said the initial rumors about the bullet casings being marked with Antifa or trans ideology symbols seemed too obvious.
The messages on the casings reminded Donovan of other recent manifestos and mass shooters who used memes, like the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter who killed 51 people in a mosque and an Islamic center.
“With memes the message was really about talking to other would be shooters,” Donovan said. “It wasn’t about communicating to the media or communicating even a serious message.”
The engravings on Robinson’s bullet casings come across as a hodgepodge of messages that don’t fit together comfortably, Donovan said. In online misogynistic circles, someone who trades in these types of cynical messages could be described as “black pilled” according to Donovan.
“It’s both impostor and mocking at the same time,” Donovan said. “When we’re talking about ‘black pilled’ youth and those that are just upset with the entire system, it does make sense that you’d have someone engraving bullets with very nihilistic hubris.”
Los Angeles Times staff writers Anita Chabria and Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.
