5 Chilling Clues That Led Police to Charlie Kirk's Killer

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We. got him. >> The suspect in the fatal shooting of. Charlie Kirk was taken into custody less. than two days after the attack at Utah. Valley University. We are going to be. speaking with a private investigator to. break down all of the key evidence. investigators say they have so far, including surveillance footage, the. recovered rifle, strange and grave. bullet casings, and messages. investigators say the suspect sent to. his roommate. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse.

Major headline. They got him. Less than. 36 hours after Charlie Kirk was gunned. down during that campus event in Utah, authorities say the man they believe is. responsible is now in custody. And if. you're just hearing about this case for. the very first time, here's the quick. version. This, I mean, blew up. everywhere, so I'd be surprised if you. haven't heard about it. But we're. talking about Charlie Kirk, the. 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point. USA, a married father of two, and one of. the most prominent conservative voices. online. He was shot and killed September.

10th during a college tour stop at Utah. Valley University in Orum. There were. roughly 3,000 people that had gathered. on that campus. And there is video from. that scene. It is disturbing. It shows. Kirk under a canopy surrounded by. security and metal barricades when. somebody in the crowd asked him about. gun violence and seconds later a single. gunshot rings out. The bullet strikes. Kirk in the neck. He collapses as people. scream and scramble for cover and Kirk.

was rushed to a nearby hospital but. pronounced dead. Authorities believe. that the shooter fired from the roof of. a nearby building about 150 to 200 yards. away. And then you fast forward to now. Today, Governor Spencer Cox stood at the. podium this morning and made this. announcement. >> Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We. got him. On the evening of September 11th, a. family member of Tyler Robinson reached. out to a family friend who contacted the. Washington County Sheriff's Office with.

information that Robinson had confessed. to them or implied that he had committed. the incident. This information was. relayed to the Utah County Sheriff's. Office and scene investigators at Utah. Valley University. This information was. also conveyed to the FBI. Investigators. reviewed additional f video footage from. UVU surveillance and identified Robinson. arriving on UVU campus in a gray Dodge. Challenger at approximately 8:29 a.m. on. September 10th in which he is observed.

on video in a plain maroon t-shirt, light colored shorts, a black hat with a. white logo, and light colored shoes. When encountered in person by. investigators in Washington County on. September 12th in the early morning. hours, Robinson was observed in. consistent clothing with those. surveillance images. So, let's talk. about the suspect. 22-year-old Tyler. Robinson was arrested on September 11th. on suspicion of capital murder, weapons, and obstruction charges. And authorities.

saying it was his own family who tipped. off law enforcement after either. confessing or strongly implying that he. was behind it. And FBI director Cash. Patel said that Robinson was picked up. just 33 hours after the killing. So. here's what we're learning about. Robinson. Grew up apparently in. Washington, Utah. And we got. confirmation that Tyler Robinson had. attended USU for one semester in the. fall of 2021. Apparently he was a. pre-engineering student, possibly took a. leave of absence. But family members say.

that his politics became quitehearted, that he specifically criticized Charlie. Kirk, saying he was full of hate and. that he was spreading hate. And the. evidence, that is what we want to talk. about right now. The evidence that. investigators have laid out so far. It. is a lot. We are going to get into that. But first, to help me break down what we. have heard so far, I want to bring in. private investigator Ashton Pac. Thank. you so much for taking the time. Uh. Ashton, it's really good to see you. >> Thanks for having me back.

How realistic is it that authorities. were able to identify and apprehend this. suspect in under 36 hours given this. attack, given what we're talking about? Um the geography, the amount of people, the circumstances. Is that seem. surprising to you? Um is that just it. seems like just great police work if you. ask me. >> Yeah, it's a solid police work. I mean, I was kind of shocked they didn't have. them sooner. I think maybe they actually. had him identified and they were just. working on lo locating his physical, you.

know, where was he actually hiding at. You know, shout out to his father. My. understanding is retired law enforcement. officer who, you know, still kind of. maintained his oath and how hard that. must be to turn your son in. But I think. uh you know all your FBI agents, all. your homeland security investigators, your local state cops, uh the university. police that were there conducting the. you know trying to locate this guy. It's. it's probably a very solid team effort. by Utah law enforcement. >> Now, you know, we've been on top of the. story from the very beginning and we are.

able to do that because of the. incredible support that we get from our. sponsor Morgan and Morgan. This is. America's largest injury law firm. This. is a firm with over a thousand. attorneys. You know why they're so big? Because they win a lot. They have. recovered over $25 billion dollar for. more than 500,000 clients. Think about. that. In the past few months, a client. in Florida received $12 million after. the insurance company offered just. $350,000. Out in Pennsylvania, a client. was awarded $26 million. That is 40. times the insured $650,000 offer. You.

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yesterday morning, they said there was. surveillance. They weren't going to. release it yet. And then later in the. day, they release uh an image, a person. of interest. Then we see the roof. footage. You know, like I have to. imagine that helped. I have to imagine. they got a lot of tips and people, you. know, they were probably looking for. somebody like this. It's what we saw in. the Manion case. >> Yeah. And that's a that's a pretty. seclude and not a secluded part of the. country, but I mean that's a tight-knit. community up there in Utah. I think for. the most part, most people know. everyone. So, I think releasing those.

photos and the videos are a no-brainer. Somebody there probably saw those and. immediately started making contact law. enforcement as to who the subject was. Do you know why there might have been a. resistance to release it immediately if. they had it? And I'm not exactly sure. what was going on, but I do I did wonder. at the time whether there was a. reluctance to release the footage. immediately because you had already been. seeing people on social media falsely. attributing the shooting to certain. individuals and maybe they didn't want. people running rampant, but also don't. you need the public's help? >> Yeah, it's a uh it's a delicate line.

that law enforcement has to walk as a. retired law enforcement officer. It was. great to be able to release information. to the public that we knew would help in. a case, but at the same time, we needed. to maintain the integrity of the. prosecution. I think what we have here. is a, you know, you get the clickbait. era of of Twitter or X, depending on. what you're calling it. Everybody wants. to have the scoop. Everybody wants to be. able to say they're the first to to post. the information about the shooter. And.

then you just these events, these these. tragic incidents are just so chaotic in. the moment. and everything is so. emotional and it just I think law. enforcement once once the toothpaste is. out of the tube, you can't put it back. in. So, they're probably a little. reluctant at first to to post what they. had and those videos, but as the. investigation proceeded through the the. days after this this attack, yeah, that. they they had to lean on that video. surveillance and those pictures. A. >> and from an investigative point of view, is there a challenge when you're talking. about a public event like this and you.

have so many videos and you have so many. potential witness statements? What are. the challenges in interpreting all that. when you have a crowded public event. where an attack takes place? >> Well, I mean, we can discuss the issues. of gathering evidence, what we call. right of bang or post attack. I mean, the bottom line was we can also discuss. where was the law enforcement presence. at this community at this college, where. was the counter snipers, was a site. assessment done. We can talk about those. things. Ultimately,

you have mirrored video and people. shooting video that you now need to. capture as evidence. It's a challenge. for law enforcement. This is where the. feds and the FBI can kind of come in. and, you know, stand up that large that. large uh, you know, multiple terabyte. hard drive that can store thousands of. videos and pictures. That's where your, you know, partnership with FBI and. federal agents come in. But yeah, it's a. challenge for sure. And in the chaos of. that moment, I can't even imagine the. initial investigation just trying to put. the pieces together to try to locate the. suspect. >> So, I want to go through the evidence.

with you and I want to start with the. video. So, the FBI didn't just release. still photos. They put out surveillance. video. Gives us a very clear look at. this potential shooter's escape. And in. the clip, you can see a figure dressed. head to toe in black, sprinting across. the rooftop at UVU just moments after. the gunshot that killed Charlie Kirk. And the person runs to the edge of the. building, hangs for a second, drops down. to the ground, disappears toward a. nearby wooded area. And that detail. matters because not far from that spot,

investigators later recovered what they. called a high-powered boltaction rifle. wrapped in a towel. And next to it, those strange engraved shell casings. that Governor Cox described today, which. we're going to get into, they were. there. So Ashton, based on your. experience, how difficult is it to, you. know, set up that rooftop escape like. the one seen in the video? I mean, first. of all, it seems like this was. definitely planned, right? Knowing. knowing where to set up, but to escape. like that in that fashion is really.

alarming. >> Well, I think your shooter is probably. relying on the chaos that is occurring. in the moment where Mr. Kirk was gunned. down and that response there. So all. eyes are on the, you know, on that I I, you know, people tunnel vision on that. right there to the scene of the crime. Um, you had the initial reports, people. screaming and yelling at a a man in the. crowd who they thought was the shooter. We kind of saw the same thing when. President Trump nearly was assassinated.

in Pennsylvania. The chaos of the. moment, luckily with, of course, you. know, Secret Service counter snipers. were able to take that shooter out. But. it doesn't shock me that this guy was. able to get away the way he did. My. concern is how did he get up there in. the first place? Why was there no law. enforcement or or security detail assets. tracking that, picking that up? A simple. drone flying over the event could have. picked up that could have been your. counter sniper contingent for law. enforcement for for the private security. detail. So, you know, he had I I know.

for sure when the afteraction report. comes out, this young man will have. conducted pre-operational surveillance. I will not be shocked that there is. video of him in the weeks and the days. before may maybe doing a dry run getting. up onto the roof, seeing how how long it. takes. The FBI won't release that. information because that'll be that'll. be part of the prosecution and until. that comes out in the court of law. This. will all be months, maybe a year down. the road. So, I I'm not shocked that he. was able to get away. >> Yeah. And they indicated that the. surveillance footage actually maps out a.

lot of his locations and when he arrived. on campus. Um, so you match that with. the description and I mean that is. pretty compelling evidence to say the. least. And look, I think you raised a. number of interesting points because I. did previous sidebars on, you know, was. there a lack of security? Why was there. only a certain amount of UVU officers. there? Did they have the help of local. police or not? He only had his uh. private security detail, too. I know. there was some sort of coordination, but. was there lack security measures as. well? The shooter, you know, on this. outside perimeter. I want to talk about.

the rifle. So, you have this rifle that. was apparently found nearby wrapped in a. towel. What does that tell you? I mean, abandoning this weapon at this location. Uh, what does that tell you? And wrapped. in a towel. >> Well, if you're a bad guy and you are uh. anticipating possibly being contacted by. law enforcement, you're trying to affect. an escape. Uh, not necessarily engage. law enforcement. Usually we see active. shooters who will either commit suicide. once they they'll either engage law. enforcement and then kill themselves or. engage law enforcement and let the law.

enforcement officers take care of the uh. kind of a suicide by cop. But here you. see a guy who's clearly trying to affect. an escape. He's trying to separate. himself from the firearm. Uh this is. kind of classic. You know, if you get if. he were to be stopped down the road, maybe stripping off the clothes that he. was seen wearing. Law enforcement, that. officer might not, you know, necessarily. know this was your shooter because he. doesn't have a weapon on him. he's not. wearing, you know, what was initially. reported as the all black clothing. So. that that that's kind of that kind of. shows you the maybe a little bit of.

premeditation that he planned this out. Uh if he's wrapped it in a towel, maybe. that's just to conceal it. So maybe it's. not observed as uh quickly as it was. Maybe he tried to wipe DNA and. fingerprints off of it to try again down. the road in a court of law, hey, my. prints aren't on that gun. There's no. DNA. But I I doubt that's going to be. the case because with touch DNA. technology today, we're going to be able. to link that firearm to the crime to. him. So, you know, that'll come out in. in court in the prosecution, of course. But yeah, separating yourself from that. firearm. That that's classic escape 101.

>> I I just it's so strange because you. have to imagine that you knew it was. going to be picked up. You know, I hear. you about ways to try to get rid of uh. you know, get rid of it and try to, you. know, remove your prints or or maybe. there the serial number was defaced in a. way and you might not be able to track. it back, but just seems like this level. of planning leading up to that and then. afterwards was it looks sloppy. >> Yeah. And again, this young man is he's. he's young. Cerebral cortex isn't fully.

formed yet. Assuming he's assuming he's. person, assuming that our suspect in. custody is the person who's done this, you know, this is all going to have to. be proven in a court of law, he will be. given rights. He has his constitutional. rights and he's going to have to go. before a judge and a jury and he'll have. a defense attorney and all all that all. the trappings of American criminal. justice ultimately. You know, I I always. say with these attacks, especially when. it comes to ide radical ideology, people. who are have ideiation of violence for.

based on some kind of a grievance, sometimes it's not rocket science. Don't. read into it so much. He's a 20some year. old kid. He's probably, you know, he's. probably didn't put a ton of thought. into it and just thought maybe he'd get. lucky and the rifle wouldn't be found. >> And now you have this supposed. confession which is if if enter if it's. allowed into evidence and if the jury a. jury would accept it is huge. So, Governor Cox said that Robinson. allegedly admitted to or implied that he. did this when speaking to family and his. father even apparently recognized him. from the photos that were released by.

the FBI, urged him to turn himself in. That if true, I wonder goes to the. pressure of the environment. Ashton, goes to the the age. Um, you know, is. that common what you see? You you. allegedly commit a heinous crime known. around the world, huge development. Are. you surprised that this is true? There. was an actual confession. >> No, it doesn't surprise me at all. I. think people want to tell their story. People want to I personally think, you.

know, and this is my personal having. just skimmed information from the. internet. I think this young man is now. he gets to be the center of the. attention. He gets to be in the. spotlight. I I've always said I think a. lot of these shooters who do spree. killings, mass shootings, active shooter. scenarios are desperate for attention. They feel like they're that that like. loser mentality. I'm not good at. anything, but I can at least be good at. this. So, I I think you have the. psychology of this of the moment. Um,

you take into account the ideology, uh, the radicalization process. Let's talk about that because there were. a lot of theories leading into this. about what might have happened. But not. only do you have this apparently. supposed confession, but investigators. say that family members told them they. noticed changes in his behavior in. recent years, that he'd grown more. political, that he mentioned Charlie. Kirk. And when detectives spoke with. Robinson's roommate, they uncovered even. more disturbing details. Here's what.

Governor Cox had to say about that. Investigators interviewed that roommate, who stated that his roommate, referring. to Robinson, made a joke on Discord. Investigators asked if he would show. them the messages on Discord. He opened. it and showed several messages to. investigators and allowed investigators. to take photos of the screen as each. message was shown by Robinson's. roommate. These photos consisted of. various messages, including content of. messages between the phone contact named. Tyler with an emoji icon and Robinson's.

roommate's device. The content of these. messages included messages affiliated. with the contact Tyler stating a need to. retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, messages. related to a to visually watching the. area where a rifle was left, and a. message referring to having left the. rifle wrapped in a towel. I mean, Ashton, this obviously it's very can be.

prosecutors don't need to prove motive. uh for most crimes. They don't need to. prove it particularly for this, but it. does help explain a story and why. somebody would have done this. It's. sometimes very hard to get into. someone's mind. But I have to say the. way that Charlie Kirk was killed and. where he was killed and when he was. killed based on these allegations of Mr. Robinson, it kind of makes sense. Well, I mean, maybe it does. I. ultimately the, you know, the ultimate.

motive of why somebody does what they. do, you know, it's so easy to try to. paint it as a black and white issue, as. a binary one or zero. He he was he was. anti-right. He was this, he was that, he. had political leanings, and this is why. he did it. psychologically deep down. inside we don't know why this young man. did what he did and he might not. understand but he uses a political. motivation to kind of uh justify his. actions. So there there could be I've.

even thought consider you know a lot of. these young men a young shooter who are. in this age range is this a mental. illness issue? Is this the onset uh. paranoid schizophrenia which can. sometimes show itself in that 20 to 25. year old age? Is this uh was he deep. down inside jealous of Charlie Kirk? Charlie Kirk kind of embodied what the. the right sees as a you know a a. privileged good-looking married to a has. a kid and a family and kind of like that. all-American person who's able to debate.

and go into these spaces where people. don't agree with him but he's still able. to ar you don't know what the motive was. on this and just to dismiss us just to. dismiss it as a political thing he might. have used politics and radicalization of. politics to justify it but until uh you. know maybe a psychological assessment is. complete Ed months down the road, we. might not know that. >> It's interesting you say that cuz I was. just in Crime Con and we did a panel on. Manion and one of the conversation. points was was he really um upset and.

trying to make a statement about the. health insurance industry or did he want. to kill somebody and use it as a. justification to to to kill? Again, assuming he's innocent till proven. guilty, too. But assuming he did it, um. was that something to think about? Now, one thing people might be looking at. this as we talk about if Mr. Robinson. really did commit this crime. How on. earth are family or friends supposed to. I mean you can't predict something like. this. But what do you say to them? You. investigate all these kinds of crimes.

all the time. I mean was this. foreseeable? >> It's very difficult. Hindsight is always. 2020. Uh I can't even imagine what the. family members are going through on you. know not only for the victim's families. but for this uh young man whose life is. now is b is over. Um if not the death. penalty he's facing life in prison for. the you know forever until he dies. So. yeah I'm sure those family members it. was very hard decision to call. I I. think they deserve a a little bit of.

credit for doing the right thing and. calling law enforcement and saying, you. know, this is what we know. >> And ultimately, you know, it's uh they. did the right thing. That's a that's a. pretty tight-knit, very religious, tight-knit community in Utah. So maybe. you had that kind of affecting their. decision to advise the government as to. what was going on. So it's one of those. tough situations. these messages to the. roommate involving the roommate, part of. the room, you know, they're a little. confusing. They detail retrieving,

hiding this rifle, surveilling the area, preparing a weapon. Why is this documented? I mean, my gosh, that's also really compelling evidence. >> Yeah, it's very compelling evidence. It. almost feels like he's playing a video. game, you know, like like like a. first-person shooter game where you want. want to you you're doing all these. little missions. So, I'm not sure if. that's uh you know, what's going on in. his head. I haven't really I haven't. read anything about what was happening. with the roommate. I've heard things of, >> you know, I I'll I'll leave that to know.

more about it. But, >> you know, again, hindsight's 2020. You. know, you're in college, you're young. 20s. Most most these 20-year-old kids, I. you know, they don't know to call the. cops or, hey, I think my I think my. roommate's exhibiting signs of paranoid. schizophrenia. They're not trained. psychologists or psychiatrists. They let. let's see if this is just an ignorance. thing on the roommate's part versus a uh. a conspiracy. You know, it's always a. conspiracy on the internet and I just. always don't I don't buy conspiracy most. of the time. >> Well, I actually have an a sidebar. coming out about all the theories. surrounding Charlie Kirk's death. I.

think that's going to come out over the. weekend, but put that aside. So, back to. the rifle for a second. When officers. finally tracked the shooter's path off. the campus, they found this boltaction. mouser rifle stashed in the trees. It. was wrapped in a dark towel. But it. wasn't just the weapon that stood out. Alongside it were these several shell. casings. and investigators say that some. had been deliberately engraved with. bizarre messages. Here's what Governor. Cox had to say. >> I know there has been speculation as. well as to uh the the writing on those.

casings, those those uh those bullet casings and. uh I believe we have that as well and I. I will share that with you now. So, the area north of Campus Drive Road. where the suspect crossed over. You saw. some of that in the video that we. released last night consists of a grassy. area with trees on the edge of the UVU. campus. Investigators discovered a. bolt-action rifle wrapped in a dark. colored towel. The rifle was determined.

to be a Mouser model 98 300 6 caliber. 306 caliber boltaction rifle. The rifle. had a scope mounted on top of it. Investigators noted inscriptions that. had been engraved on casings found with. the rifle. Inscriptions on a fired. casing read, "Notices, bulges, capital. O, what's this?". Inscriptions on the three unfired. casings read, "Hey, fascist exclamation.

point. Catch exclamation point." Up. arrow symbol, right arrow, and uh. symbol, and three down arrow symbols. A. second unfired casing read, "O Bella. Chow, Bellachchow, Bella Chow, Chow. Chow." And a third unfired casing read, "If you read this, you are gay." L M AO. >> Okay, Ashton, from an investigative, from a counterterrorism perspective, what do you take away from those.

apparent engravings? >> Well, this is where I believe the. suspect knew they were going to be. found. This is him getting again. I get. to be a part of the story. I'm the lead. character. I get to play the role and I. am in the spotlight. >> Ju just to just to push back, is there a. possibility that he would is intending. to fire at least one or more of those. bullets and when they recovered from. Charlie Kirk or anyone else, then the. messages could be found. >> That's very that is absolutely possible.

Absolutely. But again, I think this guy. is. I, you know, he sees himself as a loser. He gets to now be the center of. attention. I see this in so many of. these spree killings, active shooter. events. It, you know, again, we want to. say it's, you know, it's this, it's the. left, it's the right, it's the insurance. companies, blame the CEOs. At the end of. the day, these are broken young men who.

want to be the center of attention. And. I think when you leave rounds with. inscriptions on them to be found by law. enforcement, that's you that's you. playing that part almost like a a live. action roleplay. >> You put that to the side. From a. lawyer's point of view, from a. prosecutor's point of view, they would. argue that shows premeditation to. actually take the time to engrave that. and very specific messages. Premeditation. Okay, let's talk about. the clothing and what we learned about. what the suspect was apparently wearing. before and after the shooting. So. investigators say Robinson actually.

tried to disguise himself that day. >> 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 when he was uh when. he was apprehended when he when he was. arrested um the clothing matched the. clothing he had on before the shooting. here at UVU. Now, Robinson was. apparently spotted on campus that. morning in a maroon t-shirt, light. shorts, black hat, sneakers, and when. officers found him later, he was still.

in clothes that match that description. So, Ashton, again, that's another key. piece of identifying evidence. >> Yeah, absolutely. He's shows the. premeditation, shows the planning, shows. the malice of forethought. Um, he's. wearing clothes that, you know, this. t-shirt has this patriotic. uh symbol on it with a you know. patriotic messaging. So it it's to me. that's I'm blending into my area. You. know you don't you wouldn't want to wear.

you know purple hair and pierced face. everywhere and that's going to stand out. in that community in that in that area. So he's going to wear what would blend. to the area. I think again yes and then. putting on a disguise and taking it off. absolutely shows to the premeditation of. that. Why not just change into a. completely different third outfit? I. mean, to wear the one that was. apparently captured on surveillance. That one's strange to me. >> Yeah. Again, 20some year old young kid. He might not have put as much planning. into it. It's a little bit of that video.

liveaction role playing thing. Maybe he. just maybe didn't have the clothes. >> Look, this is still in the early stages. We have a lot more that we need to cover. about this. This is kind of a beginning. of the evidence that you're seeing going. to presented in a case. We know that. he's being held on certain charges. I. don't believe at the time of this. recording has actually been charged, but. aggravated murder appears to be on the. table. So, we will continue to see what. the evidence is that is built against uh. this individual. But Ashton Pac, thank. you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me on.

>> All right, everybody. That's all we have. for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank. you so much for joining us and as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcast. You can follow me on. Instagram or X. I'm Jesse Weber. See you. next time. [Music].