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The Situation Room

Suspect in Charlie Kirk Killing in Custody; Utah Governor on Kirk Shooting Suspect. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 12, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beyond that, is there anything (INAUDIBLE) that you discovered that may have radicalized or change (INAUDIBLE)?

GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT): There's nothing more that we can share at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) about the gun. Do you anticipate any more arrests?

COX: We do not, at this time, have any information that would lead to any additional arrests.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You believe he acted alone.

COX: Yes, but the investigation is ongoing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) where he is right now?

COX: Yes. So, right now, Mr. Robinson has been booked into the Utah County Jail. You heard the president this morning report that he was taken into custody, that his family and a friend helped to deliver him in the -- to the -- into custody of law enforcement in Washington County. For those of you that don't know where Washington County is, it is the southern most -- southwestern most part of the State of Utah. It's about a three and a half to four-hour drive from here, where we are right now. And that's where he lived and where -- they turned him in. Please, go here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COX: I can't share any more than what I've already shared. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COX: So -- how we obtained the gun, the gun was found here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COX: So, I don't have much more details on that. We do know that he drove. We had his car here on campus, and then we had his car going south back to the St. George. It's actually the City of Washington, in Washington County. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COX: I'm sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COX: We don't have any information that would lead us to believe that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) mugshot?

COX: Yes. In fact, it's already -- it was just released. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) discuss about?

COX: We -- I can't answer that right now. Thank you. Over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COX: I absolutely believe that this a watershed in American history, yes. The question is what kind of watershed. And that chapter remains to be written. Is this the end of a dark chapter in our history or the beginning of a darker chapter in our history?

We have -- look, I mean, if you look at true political assassinations in this country of someone of this stature, this feels a lot like the late '60s. And having one so gruesomely displayed on camera in all of our hands and in all of our pockets, we are not wired as human beings biologically, historically, we have not evolved in a way that we are capable of processing those types of violent imagery. And by the way, we've seen another one with a gruesome stabbing very recently that went viral. This not good for us. It is not good to consume.

Social media is a cancer on our society right now. And I would encourage -- again, I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community. There are -- that is happening, and it's happening organically right now.

I had a friend in a small city in Utah who said, we're getting together. The Republicans and Democrats in my little town are getting together to have a discussion tonight, last night, just to find a way to find their better angels. So, yes, this could be.

I mean, you know, again, you have to go back to JFK to have seen a video live of something like this happening. I wasn't born until 1975, but I know that things were really dark in the late '60s. Sorry to some of you. I know some of you were there.

But this our moment. Do we escalate or do we find an off ramp? And again, it's a choice. It's a choice, and every one of us gets to make that choice.

Two more questions. Two more questions. Right here. NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- clarify that the release of those enhanced images at 8:00 p.m., the timeline that Director Patel gave us, led to the arrest at 10:00 p.m.? Is there a direct connection between those two events?

COX: I cannot comment if there is a direct connection or not, but all I can say is that through some process the family came to know that this had happened.

WATT: One more thing, Governor. Could you just clarify the clothing issue you mentioned earlier? Was he changing outfits?

COX: Correct.

WATT: Could you just clarify this?

[10:35:00]

COX: Yes, yes. So, when he's first spotted on campus, he has different clothing on, and then he changes clothing on the roof and then changed back into that clothing at some point so that when he was apprehended, when he was arrested, the clothing matched the clothing he had on before the shooting here at UVU. Last question here. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE). Can you tell us a little bit more about where -- was this student here at the school (INAUDIBLE) mental illness?

COX: Yes. So, I don't have any information on the mental illness part. He was not a student here at UVU. He was living and had lived for a long time with his family in Washington County. (INAUDIBLE). Thank you, everyone, for your great work in getting this information out.

I will just say process-wise, this may be important. I know many of you aren't familiar with the process in Utah. I think it's important that you understand that basically, we have three days for charging documents to be filed. A CI will be filed. We'll have more information then, more detailed information, as those charging documents are filed in preparation for a preliminary hearing.

So, three days. So, you know, we would anticipate then that early next week those charging documents will be filed. We will obviously be working -- the county attorney will be working very closely with Mr. Kirk's family as those documents and decisions are prepared and made. Thanks, everyone.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Officials in Utah wrapping up that press conference. You heard the governor open it up saying, we got him, identifying the suspect in the shooting and killing of Charlie Kirk as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Utah. The governor just saying there that he is not a student at UVU, but that in speaking to family members, that he'd grown more political in the last several years. And that at a dinner just before this shooting at some point, he mentioned that Kirk would be visiting UVU and said, in his words, Robinson telling the family members that Kirk was full of hate, how he didn't like him.

The governor there talking about the bullet casings and that one of them said, hey, fascist, catch. We also learned that a family member of Robinson and a family friend were involved in turning him in last night around 10:00 p.m. local time there. He is still behind bars and we do expect charges soon.

I want to bring in John Miller, chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. What stands out to you from what we just heard? A lot of information there, John.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, we learned a great deal and it explains a lot about what happened overnight. So, you know, the timeline we pieced together from the press conference is last night they do a press conference at 8:00 p.m. They put out the video, which is meant to draw more people to the web site so that they will be pushed from the video to those additional images that were released of the individual with the baseball hat and the sunglasses.

Now, they had 7,000 leads to sort through before that press conference. That press conference generated another 4,000 leads. Among those leads, the following unfolds. The family member, who we believe was the father, talked to the son about this, had his suspicions, spoke to the son, and then called a minister. The minister was associated with law enforcement as kind of the chaplain for the county fugitive task force. Then after speaking to the father, calls the task force, speaks to one of the sheriffs and a deputy U.S. marshal, and passes on this information, which is then passed to the FBI, which moves very quickly. By 10:00 p.m., the FBI has observed the suspect, taken him into custody, and then starts putting this together. So, all of this unfolded overnight.

Other key things that came out during the press conference was additional information about a roommate who says that they had followed conversations on the group chat platform known as Discord and was able to share these messages with FBI agents that are presumably from the suspect talking about a rifle being left at a drop point, wrapped in a towel, and other details, which added to the evidence that they'd collected.

[10:40:00]

And we learned additional details about that rifle, the Mauser 98 bolt-action rifle, which is the one that federal authorities discovered in the wooded area near the campus after the shooting prior to knowing this information. And that the bullets had inscriptions on them, including the words, hey, fascist, catch, on one bullet, and "Bella Ciao," which may be a reference to an Italian folk song which has been emblematic of resistance for a long time in the U.S. So, a lot of information, big developments, and it all came together in just a few hours.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. John, stand by. We're going to get back to you. I want to bring in Nick Watt, our reporter, who was there and asked a question at the news conference. Nick, what jumped out at me, and I wonder what jumped out at you, was that this friend of Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect, now said that in recent years he had become more political. That's what the governor said, that he had become more political.

Noted that Charlie Kirk was going to be speaking on the campus there in Utah and that he was, quote, "full of hate," it just sort of jumped out at me that we're beginning to get an understanding of a possible motive in this.

WATT: Right. And, you know, as John was just saying there, the engravings on the ammunition in the rifle, hey, fascist, catch, when Governor Cox was asked, you know, do we have any idea of a motive, is the suspect talking, he wouldn't comment on whether the suspect is talking, but he, the governor, said, listen, oh, you fascist, catch, that might be all you need to know in terms of the motive.

So, the suggestion there is that this young man, Tyler Robinson, 22 years old, did not like Charlie Kirk, believed Charlie Kirk was spreading hate, and from what he engraved, believed that Charlie Kirk was a fascist. You know, also, I asked the governor to clarify, because in those images that were released throughout the day yesterday, we see the suspect wearing this black T-shirt, the cap. So, apparently, what happened is he arrived in his Dodge vehicle at 8:29 in the morning in a different outfit. He then changed clothes to perpetrate this crime, then changed back into the outfit that he was wearing early in the morning, drove back down to the very southwest of Utah. And when he was apprehended, he was wearing those same clothes that he had worn to come here to carry out this assassination. So, those are a few of the things that were standing out to me, Wolf.

Now, as for charges, the governor said that here in Utah they have three days to bring a charging document against Tyler Robinson that we believe, listen, there is also the possibility, of course, of federal charges here. But it is very clear from what the governor is saying that state charges will be brought. And as the governor said yesterday, the death penalty will be sought against this suspect. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Stand by. We're going to get back to you as well. I know you're on the scene for us getting more and more information. And, Pamela, I don't think there's any doubt that the next few hours we're going to be learning a lot more about this 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Robinson.

BROWN: Yes, we are. And we're already getting a picture together from all of that information we just heard from Governor Cox, including the fact that the suspect had become more political over the last several years. And it expressed to family members that he didn't like Charlie Kirk, that he thought he was full of hate and that he noted he was visiting the campus, which the shooting occurred September 10th.

I want to bring in Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director, CNN senior law enforcement analyst as well. So, tell me what stands out to you at what we're learning about the suspect right here on your screen, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Utah, Andy. ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Yes, Pam. So, we got a lot of detail there and it's the sort of detail that really frames out the what we call the tick tock or the timeline of exactly how this was done. We now know when he arrived in town. We know what he was wearing, which explains that he changed his clothes to commit the crime and then changed back into his original outfit to try to avoid detection. Explains a little bit that somewhat bizarre shirt that he was wearing when he came off the roof with a prominent image on the front of the black shirt. It's -- I would guess that he probably picked that shirt because sometimes things like that can distract an identification. It can -- if people are drawn just to the image of you -- on your shirt, they don't notice some of your other physical characteristics. And then when you take that shirt off, you have more of a blank slate to work with.

But nevertheless, the information about the inscriptions on the bullet casings is the first insight we have to his motivation, you know, a motivation, which was pretty easy to guess at from this blatantly political act of assassinating a highly political figure in the in the public space. So, the motivation seems to dovetail with what you would expect there.

[10:45:00]

I still think it leaves also many questions still be determined. There are, you know, things I've been wondering about over the last few days, like none of the photographs or the video from his escape off the roof clearly show the rifle. So, he had to have been able to either dismantle it and hide it in that backpack in a way, which is hard to imagine with a full-size hunting rifle.

So, you know, it remains to be seen, like, where's the image of him carrying that thing and actually depositing it in the in the pickup spot there that where -- he hid it in the woods? But then again, you now have the text messages with the roommate where he actually refers to leaving it with a towel on it, which is consistent with the way it was found. So, a lot of detail here that really paints him into a corner.

BROWN: And I know our sources were telling us that, apparently, he had a screwdriver with him, that authorities believe he could have used to dismantle the weapon or put it together after the fact. But just to follow up on what you just said about the roommate, that really stood out to me what we heard from officials that they interviewed the roommate of Tyler Robinson and the roommate showed them the discord messages where Robinson is talking about the rifle, talking about a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left.

Now, a reporter asked the governor if there would be any more arrests given the fact that these messages are there. And he stated, no, that the belief is that Robinson acted alone. What do you make of that?

MCCABE: Yes, I thought that was a curious thing to say, because, again, it's still very early in the investigation. They presumably only even learned about the roommate last night. So, I fully expect that some of the investigators on this case are going to be taking a very hard look at him.

From the text messages that we learned about, it seems to indicate that the roommate had some knowledge about what he was doing. The question is, did he know about the entire plan? And if he did know about it, if he assisted it, supported it, provided, you know, any kind of -- if he was in agreement with Robinson and took any step in furtherance of the crime in terms of providing support or whatever that might have been, he could certainly be considered a co- conspirator.

So, it doesn't mean he will get charged, but it's -- but, boy, if I was running this investigation, I'd be wanting to take a very close look at him. Now, the fact that he's already been interviewed, that he provided some information about these chats to investigators and explain them indicates that he's, at this point anyway, in a very cooperative posture, which is good. But we'll have to see. You know, I still think that one -- he could really go in either direction at this point.

BROWN: One of the things I wanted to ask on that note was, did they find the roommate because they were able to identify Tyler Robinson once the family member and the family friend turned to men, or did the roommate actually alert authorities of these messages at some point? Because this was so out there, right? I mean, the shooting and the images, did the roommate actually go to authorities at all with these messages? We didn't get that clarity as far as I heard, but that would be a question as well to help piece this together.

MCCABE: That's right. Yes, we don't know the answer to that. It's certainly possible that as soon as they heard from the people in Washington, Utah about this -- about Robinson's identity, they would immediately do a full scrub on him and would then have identified where he lives. And then, could have come across a roommate that way. So, that that pushes them in one direction towards potentially co- conspirator.

But if Robinson reached out, you know, the question becomes, how long did he know about this rifle and did he understand what the rifle had been used for? It's hard to imagine he didn't. So, yes, we -- still a lot more to be learned about that.

BLITZER: You know, stand by for a moment, Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, because one quick question I want to ask you before we move on to some of our other analysts out there, that this 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, according to the governor of Utah, confessed, the governor used the word confessed, to family, friends and family members about this assassination. That jumped out at me. I wonder how you reacted to that.

MCCABE: Yes, it's really remarkable. You know, it sounds like, again, from what we heard before the press conference, that a family member had suspicions likely based off of seeing the photographs. But that has not been confirmed to us at this time.

[10:50:00]

And confronted him, had a conversation with him. And in that conversation, Robinson, you know, made statements that amount to a confession, whether he acknowledged doing it, took responsibility for it or something along those lines. Those statements will be devastating to him down the road. They'll be admissible to some extent, certainly at this point where he's going to be -- where he's first going to be charged with an offense. I expect you'll see those statements in the affidavit that supports the initial charge. And they could also, depending on the, you know, vagarities of Utah, evidence law, could also come be admitted if -- at trial, if he goes to trial. There would be a fight over that. But nevertheless, the government has a lot to work with.

BLITZER: All right. Stand by. I want to bring in John Miller right now. He's our other law enforcement and intelligence analyst who's watching all of this. We are learning more details almost every minute about this suspect, including this detail that he actually visited the campus ahead of time, it seemed to be suggesting that he was taking a look at how this potential assassination could unfold.

MILLER: Well, and look at the way the pieces come together in this storyline. You know, you were just talking about what the expert call leakage, you know, making statements of his hatred for Charlie Kirk, making statements to his family members when confronted about this. But more significantly, you know, the text messages over the Discord channel to the roommate about a gun, a gun at a drop location, a gun that needs to be recovered, there is this common trait between these offenders in these high-profile crimes where, of course, they don't want to be caught, but they do want certain people to know or at least to hint at that they had something to do with that. And you see some of this here.

To get to your question about the planning, you know, at the press conference, they said they were able to recover information about his car being on the campus, the Dodge Challenger, and pictures of him visiting the campus on September 10th. Now, this happened September 11th. We have talked for the past 33 hours -- 36 hours about, you know, you couldn't have taken a long distance shot like that at a subject that far away as a sniper without first doing some kind of reconnaissance and finding the right spot that would give you the distance to be able to escape easily, the concealment to be able to take that shot without being stopped and the distance to be accurate with the weapon you were working with.

It's now told to us by authorities that he had been there before, that he had visited that spot, looked around the campus, picked that spot, you know, been to that rooftop before. So, it does talk about the level of planning and not a long time before, just a day before the actual event. It was a controversial event on the campus, 6,000 people had signed a petition against letting Charlie Kirk talk there, and then a thousand more had signed one in favor.

But the point is, it was out there in the newspapers, in the Deseret News and others, which may have been what caught the suspect's attention and taken him to say, well, he's going to be there. I can get there. And going there a day ahead of time to scope out that spot.

BLITZER: You know, and also, I think what was significant, what the Utah governor, Spencer Cox, said in his opening statement, and he went through some specific details and then he was answering questions and a response to some questions, he said it is believed, at least right now, John, that the suspect in this case, the 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah, is believed to have acted alone as this investigation continues. He said, and I'm quoting him now, "We do not at this time have any information that would lead to any additional arrests." It's still very preliminary. But what's your reaction to that?

MILLER: I think that that is more typical than unusual in a case like this with an assassination and someone who is obsessed and driven to this. Andy McCabe brings up an important point about, you know, the text messages or the messages on the chat app within Discord about the gun and so on. That boils down to you have a cooperative witness there who's sharing information with the FBI, as Andy McCabe pointed out, but there will be a closer examination on the what did he know and when did he know it question. Did he think about sharing that with law enforcement?

But that -- if all of that was after the fact, which it appears based on the narrative it was, then it wouldn't have changed -- it wouldn't have been information in time to change the results of the shooting, which it appears based on the narrative it was, then it wouldn't have changed. It wouldn't have been information in time to change the results of the shooting. It may have sped up the identification of the suspect.

[10:55:00]

BROWN: All right. Thanks so much, John Miller. I want to go to Mary Ellen O'Toole, former senior FBI profile, just to get your reaction on what we're learning about the suspect. And, you know, as we learn more, the question becomes, how can we use what we've learned about the suspect so far to prevent future political assassinations, Mary Ellen?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Yes, it's a great question. So, let me start by saying this. I was impressed by the information that indicated this -- the shooter had been thinking about this for some time. They even used the word, it went back maybe for years, years with an S on it.

So, one of the things investigators are going to be looking at is, during that pathway towards violence, what was he doing? Who was he talking to? And I think important about this is, was he simply focused on Charlie Kirk or were there other possible victims along the way that he was also interested in? And that's all going to become information they can obtain through his social media or talking with people.

It would be quite interesting to me if someone this young in his early 20s was only focused on one person, which means that Charlie was one of maybe multiple people that he could have targeted. That becomes important because if there are multiple possible victims, there could have been other people that he talked with about, hey, I'm thinking about doing this or this person I hate because of their ideology. So, they really have to get a much tighter, and they will, idea of that pathway to violence, what he was thinking, what plans were -- was he making involving possible other victims, and who might he have been talking to about that?

Because the whole idea of leakage, which I think is critical here, is to announce ahead of time what somebody is about to do. That's where we get the warning behaviors. Warning behaviors mean we see it, we hear it beforehand, and that occurred here. But what were the other warning behaviors with this young shooter? Because those warning behaviors will become very important, unfortunately, for the next shooter.

So, I think that they're still very much in the preliminary stages of finding out what his plans were and who he was talking to, and maybe who purposefully or even inadvertently was helping him.

BROWN: And again, just to reiterate that the governor said, at this point, we do not anticipate any more arrests, but of course, it is still early in this investigation. And just to follow up with you, Mary Ellen, I'm curious what you make of the fact that authorities say he changed clothes, he arrived on campus wearing a certain set of clothes, then changed for the shooting and the visuals that we saw from the roof and so forth, and then changed back into the original clothes, which is what he was in when he was taken into custody.

So, clearly that shows an element of wanting to evade detection. But then at the same time, authorities say he -- that the suspect dropped the rifle in the woods, that there were these Discord messages where he's talking about the rifle to his roommate, or I should say an account affiliated with Tyler. And then, according to our sources, he confessed to a family member about the shooting. How does all of that square to you?

O'TOOLE: In regards to the clothing, I think that's important because I've certainly seen this in other shooting cases. The event appears to be very symbolic to the shooter. And it's symbolic because the victim represented something to him. So, when you have a symbolic shooting, it's a symbolic event, you wear symbolic clothing, and you probably go through a dress rehearsal. So, you make sure you've got the right clothes

So, I think wearing the clothes, taking off the clothes, and then redressing oneself, it can be a form of, you know, protecting or not leaving evidence behind. But I actually think it's twofold, because I think that this shooter wanted to wear something to express his ideology. So, then he takes off that clothing and goes back to his original maroon shirt and his shorts.

Again, I think that it would be typical representative of some of these other cases where these people wear certain items of clothing as a message to others not that we get it but a message to other people that this is a very symbolic event for him. So, again you're asking a question about the clothing, I think it has twofold purposes, to minimize the evidence, although I think it's equally as important that he wore like a uniform to symbolize that this was a --

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