About

Tyler Robinson refers to the Suspected Charlie Kirk Shooter, the gunman who assassinated right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10th, 2025. Utah authorities and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials held a press conference on September 12th, identifying Robinson, a 22-year-old from Washington, Utah, as the case's prime suspect. According to officials, a family member of Robinson alerted authorities after remembering an incident prior to the shooting in which Robinson talked about Kirk's then-upcoming UVU event and expressed disdain for him. A claim that Robinson confessed to his father, who turned him in, spread online as well, started by the Daily Mail. Investigators also linked Robinson's grey Dodge Challenger to one seen at the scene of the crime. Investigators notably viewed Discord messages allegedly sent by Robinson that detailed elements of the shooting, though the company later refuted this. The gunman additionally made engravings on the bullet casings used in the shooting that referenced memes and internet catchphrases, like Notices Bulge / OwO What's This? and "Hey fascist! Catch! up arrow, right arrow, three down arrows," a reference to the Eagle 500kg Bomb from the video game Helldivers 2. Robinson's mugshots were released to the public on September 12th, 2025. The developing story quickly spread on social media sites like Twitter / X, Reddit and TikTok, among others. Notably, Robinson being identified as the prime suspect quelled the spread of unfounded claims that a "Skye Valadez" was the Kirk shooter, which originated on 4chan. In the days following Robinson's arrest, numerous online accounts purportedly linked to Robinson began to emerge online, as well as details about his roommate, which painted Robinson as a furry.

History

On September 10th, 2025, right-wing political commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at Utah Valley University (UVU).^[1] Heading into the following day, the suspect was still at large. Investigators focused on video footage, showing the suspected shooter escaping from a nearby roof.^[2]

The FBI released security camera stills of the suspected shooter to let the public help identify them. The images were posted by the @FBISaltLakeCity account on X^[3] on September 11th, gaining over 76.1 million views and 327,000 likes in a day. The suspect was seen wearing sunglasses and all-black clothing, including a long-sleeve graphic T-shirt with the American flag on it.

On the morning of September 12th, 2025, Utah Governor Spencer Cox and FBI officials, like FBI Director Kash Patel, held a press conference in which they identified the case's main suspect as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah.^[4]

Governor Cox began the announcement by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him." He then detailed how authorities identified Robinson as the suspect. Governor Cox stated that a family member of Robinson alerted authorities after remembering an incident prior to the shooting in which Robinson talked about Kirk's then-upcoming UVU event and expressed disdain for him.^[5]

Cox further stated that investigators saw Robinson arrive at the UVU campus on September 10th, driving a grey Dodge Challenger and wearing a maroon-colored shirt.^[5]

Cox also noted that Robinson's roommate was contacted by authorities, who showed investigators Discord messages allegedly sent by Robinson that detailed aspects of the shooting.^[5]

Robinson's mugshots were released by the Utah Governor's Office on September 12th, 2025.

Also, later that day, TMZ^[20] interviewed a spokesperson at Discord, who told the publication that it "found no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord."

On September 13th, 2025, reports about Robinson's roommate, 22-year-old Lance Twiggs, began spreading on the internet.^[22]

According to sources like the New York Post^[23] and Axios,^[24] Twiggs was Robinson's live-in transgender boyfriend, who was "aghast" upon learning about Robinson's alleged crime. The NY Post also reported that Robinson's online presence pointed to a "hodgepodge of liberal ideology, gamer-style humor and post-ironic memes."^[23] Additional reports about his "furry lifestyle" emerged around the same time.^[26] Twiggs was notably reported as being "extremely cooperative" with authorities amid the investigation.

Engravings Found On Bullet Casings

On September 11th, 2025, the Wall Street Journal^[16] reported that transgender and antifascist ideology was found engraved on the bullet casings from the rifle that authorities believed was used in Charlie Kirk’s shooting. WSJ's tweet^[17] on the development received over 1.1 million views in a few hours.

According to reports on September 12th,^[18][19] the actual engravings were largely meme, internet and video game references, as well as one that was antifascist. The messages found on the bullet casings included:

• "Notices Bulge / OwO What's This?"
• "Hey fascist! Catch! Up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol and three down arrow symbols" (a reference to the Eagle 500kg Bomb from Helldivers 2)
• "O Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao" (an Italian song dedicated to the Italian resistance fighting against the occupying troops of Nazi Germany)
• "If you read this you are gay lmao"

Online Presence

On September 12th, 2025, the news of Tyler Robinson's arrest spread en masse on social media. For instance, on that day, X^[6] user @TheInsiderPaper shared Robinson's mugshots, gaining over 6,200 likes in an hour.

Around the same time, Redditor mal73 shared Robinson's mugshot to the /r/pics^[10] subreddit, gaining over 12,000 upvotes in an hour.

Other viral posts spread the news, like a tweet from X^[7] user @CollinRugg on September 12th, who echoed a claim made by the Daily Mail^[8] that Robinson allegedly confessed to his father. The tweet received over 28,000 likes in an hour.

Other viral tweets echoed the same claim that Robinson's father was the one who alerted authorities. For instance, the X^[9] account @PopBase posted about the claim, gaining over 4 million views and 35,000 likes in an hour.

Soon after, X^[8] user @isseyboy quote-tweeted @PopBase, joking about Robinson's dad seeing the $100,000 reward for turning in the shooter, gaining over 15,000 likes in an hour.

Multiple X^[11][12] users began sharing photos of Tyler Robinson from the purported Facebook account of his mom, Amber Jones Robinson. For instance, on September 12th, X^[11] user @bobbythebishop shared images of Robinson, gaining over 3,600 likes in two hours.

Many internet users began speculating what Robinson's political affiliations were, seemingly trying to grasp his motive, assuming that he was the shooter.

For instance, on September 12th, 2025, X^[13] user @PunishedFredda quote-tweeted a post that used a photo of Tyler Robinson and paired them with the memetic catchphrases written on the shell casings found by investigators at the scene of Charlie Kirk's assassination. @PunishedFredda wrote, "Cool, another kid with contradictory politics and irony-poisoned internet culture messages written on their murder implements. This pattern will, of course, continue to go ignored." The post gained over 3,100 likes in an hour.

On X^[14] and other sites, many users expressed a belief that Robinson was a Groyper in viral posts as his online presence and the engravings found on the bullet casings continued to spread on September 12th.

On that same day, Twitch streamer Hasan Piker posted a quote-tweet on X,^[15] expressing, "Tyler Robinson (Kirk’s alleged shooter) came from a Mormon family in both law enforcement and the military, but I’m not so certain if he himself was right wing. A lot of the memes posted on the casings are ironic or of the left variety. Different than previous far right shooters." The post received over 5,400 likes in an hour.

Also on September 12th, 2025, Bluesky ^[20] user @juniper.beer posted a series of images noting the inclusion of the antifascist song "Bella Ciao" in the engravings on the bullet shells allegedly used by Robinson and that the song was on a "Groyper War" playlist on Spotify. The 4chan images also showed anonymous users claiming Robinson was a Groyper. In one hour, the post received over 1,600 likes, 300 reposts and 40 quotes.

On September 13th, a video began circulating of a man claiming to be a high school classmate of Robinson, who described him as a "Reddit Kid." The clip spread to sites like Reddit that day, being posted to the /r/JoeRogan^[21] subreddit, where it received over 2,000 upvotes and 1,100 comments in two days.

The video of his purported classmate was also discussed in a video that same day by the YouTube channel Occupy Democrats, which received over 416,000 views, 21,000 likes and 3,400 comments in a similar timeframe.

Also on September 13th, 2025, Twitter / X^[25] user @KanekoaTheGreat posted a tweet claiming they found social media and other accounts allegedly tied to Tyler Robinson, including his Reddit, Steam and Fur Affinity accounts, mostly under the handle or username "craftin247." The tweet received over 652,000 views, 6,900 likes, 1,700 retweets and 210 replies in two days.

That same day, additional X users began digging into the purported accounts belonging to Robinson, including his Steam account. For example, X^[27] user @mikesulsenti claimed they found examples of furry-related items on his account linked to the game Furry Shades of Gay, receiving over 19,500 views and 270 likes on a tweet making the claim.

Later on September 13th, X^[27] user @mikesulsenti posted about Robinson's purported account on the Fur Affinity site, which notably included the same "Craftin247" username.^[28]

The various accounts purportedly belonging to Robinson rapidly sparked discourse online as they spread in mid-September 2025, including a post to the /r/redscarepod^[29] subreddit on September 13th discussing his rumored Fur Affinity account, which garnered over 550 upvotes and 200 comments in two days.

Search Interest

External References