Charlie Kirk's Assassin Sent Disturbing Discord Messages: Affidavit

With the arrest of Tyler James Robinson, the suspect in the killing of Charlie. Kirk, we just got our hands on brand new. court paperwork. We are talking. potential charges. We are talking bail. We are talking now a new detailed. timeline of events and we are going to. break it down for you in real time. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [Music]. All right, so we're doing something very. different here on Sidebar. We are.

breaking down this legal paperwork we. just got our hands on in real time. No. prep. I'm literally looking at this. right now. Um, this is new paperwork. that was just filed in connection with. the arrest of Tyler James Robinson, the. 22-year-old who is suspected of killing. Charlie Kirk. Now, what do I have my. hands on? I have an affidavit of. probable cause. I have an order from a. judge denying him bail and then a public. safety assessment report. I'm going to.

break all this down in real time. He. hasn't been officially charged yet, but. this is what he has been booked on. I. want to bring on trial attorney Rich. Shoenstein, who's going to break this. down with me in real time. So, we're. both looking at this. Rich, good to see. you. Um, by the way, great background. Is that real or is that AI? I mean, it. looks like really. >> Yeah. No, this is this is my real. brother's real house in Columbus, Ohio. It looks good. Looks good. Okay. So, what I want to do first is go into this. affidavit of probable cause which led to.

his arrest. He is charged and we'll. break down these charge that he is going. to be charged or at least he's been. booked right now on aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing. serious bodily injury, obstruction of. justice, capital firstdegree felony. conduct. Before we go any further, Rich, so basically this is what he could be. charged with. This is what prosecutors. could be seeking. It could be modified. in some way, but um but at this point, this seems to fall in line with what the. allegations are,

>> right? I mean, basically the the charges. here are murder, illegal discharge of a. firearm in public where he did it, and. obstruction of justice, which I think. means flight. And as you say, there are. other possible crimes that might or. might not be added later. >> And so, let me read through this whole. probable cause statement. Uh, and it. says, "I believe there is probable cause. to charge the defendant with these. charges." Um, and I believe this is from. an arresting officer, although I'll see.

at the end. Brian Davis. Okay. Officer's. name. This is in the county of Utah, state of Utah. Okay. I believe there was. probable cause to charge the defendant. with these charges because the following. information was obtained by your Afen. from police officers, multiple video. recordings posted on social media. websites, Utah Valley University campus. surveillance surveillance cameras, and. those who witnessed the incident. On. September 10th, 2025, Charles James Kirk. was at the Utah Valley University UVU. campus in Oram, Utah for a political.

event. Mr. Kirk is a conservative. political activist who was scheduled to. speak at an event in the courtyard area. on the UVU campus. The courtyard area is. to the west of the low sea center. building. According to video recordings, Charles was wearing a white t-shirt and. and dark pants sitting under a white. canopy in a courtyard of the campus. facing to the east. The event was. attended by hundreds of individuals. Charles was surrounded by pe with. multiple individuals to his left, right, and rear and front of the canopy. Behind.

the canopy was a walkway used for access. to various parts of the university. Charles was holding a microphone and. speaking to a crowd. While speaking into. the microphone, a loud gunshot was heard. at approximately 1223 hours and Charles. appeared to have been hit in the neck. Now, that's interesting because there I. kind of did a separate sidebar on this. about there was speculation whether or. not he was hit in the chest and it. ricocheted uh into his neck, but here he. says it's been hit in the neck. Uh blood.

was seen coming out of the left side of. his neck as he fell over to his left. Charles was transported to Panagos. Regional Hospital in Orum. Apologize if. I'm mispronouncing that. Charles was. pronounced deceased at the hospital. Investigators reviewed the Utah Valley. University surveillance cameras. While. reviewing the surveillance cameras, investigators observed an individual on. the rooftop of the Losi Center building. on the UVU campus at the time of the. shooting. Hereafter, the unidentified. individual will will be referred to as.

suspect. Based on surveillance camera. footage, suspect appears to be a white. male with dark-colored hair wearing a. dark-colored hat, sunglasses, a long. sleeve black shirt with a picture of an. American flag, and an eagle printed on. the shirt, dark colored jeans, and white. gray shoes with white colored shoelaces. The shoes appear to be consistent with. Chuck Taylor Converse style shoes. We've. been following the story from the. beginning. And you know, one of the. reasons that we can do this to really.

dive into these cases and stories is. because of the amazing support that we. get from our sponsors like Upside. Now, Upside is great. It is a free app that. gets cash back when you buy Daily. Essentials. So, I pump my gas, I can use. Upside. I go out to lunch, I can use. Upside. Get something at a convenience. store, I can use Upside. And why not get. cash back when I do all these things, right? Yes, this is real cash back. It's. money that appears in your Upside app. that you transfer right into your bank. account. So once you have the free. Upside app, you claim an offer for. whatever you're buying on Upside. You. pay as usual using a debit or credit.

card. You follow the steps on the app, you get paid. So to find out how much. you can earn, click the link in the. description to download Upside or scan. the QR code on screen. And make sure to. use our promo code Sidebar because. you'll get an extra 25 cents back on. every gallon on your first tank of gas. Suspect is also carrying a dark colored. backpack on his back. Suspect walks with. a distinctive gate. Prior to the. shooting, suspect appears to walk with a. stiff right leg and a relatively slow. pace. Suspect's ability to bend his. right leg appears to be restricted.

Investigators were able to track. suspects movements on the UVU campus. starting at approximately 11:50 hours on. September 10th, 2025. At approximately. 11:50 hours, a UVU surveillance camera. first captured suspect walking across a. grassy area north of Campus Drive at. approximately 800 West. By the way, we. knew we knew that there were. surveillance footage, but now we're. really getting this in depth. A suspect. walked south through the parking lot and. approached a pedestrian tunnel that runs. underneath Campus Drive. Before entering.

the tunnel, suspect paused at the top of. the stairs and pulled out what appeared. to be a cell phone from his right pocket. using his right hand. At approximately. 11:53 hours, suspect eventually put what. appeared to be a cell phone back in his. right pants pocket using his right hand. Surveillance captured suspect making his. way toward the Losi center. At. approximately 12:02 hours, suspect was. recorded walking on the north side of. the Losi Center building, walking with. the same gate as observed earlier.

Suspect entered the Losi Center building. through a set of doors on the southeast. corner of the Losi Center building at. approximately 12:15. hours. Yeah, let me just change it here. Suspect was observed walking up to the. stairs that led to the common area. adjacent to the Losi Center building. Suspect walked to a short concrete wall. that separates the common area from the. rooftop of the Losi center building. At. approximately 1217 hours, suspect. climbed over the short wall and appeared.

to crouch down on the north side of the. wall on the rooftop. At approximately. 12:22 hours, suspect stood up and. started running across the rooftop of. the Losi center building. The notable. limp from previous surveillance was. absent. Hm. Suspect ran to the west side. of the rooftop and appeared to scoot. along the rooftop area as he got closer. to the edge of the rooftop. At. approximately 12:22 hours, suspect laid. down in a position consistent with a. prone shooting position near the edge of. the rooftop and appeared to be facing.

west in the direction of the courtyard. area. The rooftop of the Losi center. building overlooks the courtyard area. where the event featuring Charlie Cook. Charlie Kirk was taking place. The Losi. Center building is east of the courtyard. area. At approximately 1223 hours, Charlie Kirk was shot. At approximately. 12:23 hours, surveillance shows that. suspects stood up suddenly from the edge. of the rooftop and sprinted north on the. rooftop of the Losi Center building. Suspect ran to the northeast corner of.

the building and approached the edge of. the rooftop. Suspect placed a. dark-colored item on the rooftop and. proceeded to lower himself off the. rooftop. Suspect dropped off the rooftop. onto the grass below. Suspect ran north. near the parking lot to the east of the. Losi Center at approximately 12:24. hours. Suspect ran north across the. campus drive road. Suspect appeared to. be carrying an item whose identity is. not clear from the surveillance. So. whether or not it was the weapon, the. area to the north of Campus Drive Road.

where suspect crossed over consists of a. grassy area with trees on the edge of. the UVU campus. Investigators discovered. a boltaction rifle wrapped in a. dark-colored towel. 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, "Notice bulge. Ow. What's. this?" Inscriptions on the three unfired. casings read, "Hey, fascist catch." An.

up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and. three down arrow symbols. A second. unfired casing read, "Oh, Bella Chow, Bella Chow, Bellachow, Chow Chow." And a. third unfired casing read, "If you read. this, you are gay. L M AO." Before we go. any further, so Rich, this is quite. consistent with not only what we heard. from the press conference earlier today, but it is consistent with video footage. that is circulated on social media. What. is standing out to you about this so. far?

>> Well, I've seen this video footage. as. you say, it's been making the rounds. And he walks with a stiff gate. presumably because he has a rifle down. his pants. He gets on top of the. building. He takes the rifle out of his. pants and now he's able to walk more. freely and he crouches down um and. fires. And there are these casings. I'm. not wellversed enough to know what. exactly those casings mean, what they're. references to. I see that they might.

I've seen reports they might have some. connection to video games, but I don't. know. But obviously they're of interest. to the investigators. They have uh a lot. of footage. And you know, we live in a. world where if you're out walking. around, you're on a campus, you're in a. neighborhood, you're on film somewhere, you're on video somewhere, you can't go. anywhere. And they've pieced all of that. together to show this suspect getting on. top of the building and apparently. firing a rifle. A.

>> and the fact that so much of this is. documented, you know, how many times do. we cover cases where there is no. surveillance footage, let alone of the. attack, we all saw the shooting. I mean, we all saw it unfortunately. uh but to. apparently uh track the shooter's. movements. They talked about in a press. conference yesterday, but to actually. have it detailed, that is uh and we know. that the footage was we know that the. image of this person of interest, the. suspect was released yesterday, that is. very important for prosecutors. >> Yeah. Well, and and so listen, this is a.

very high-profile, very horrible crime. This is an all hands on deck situation. they went door todo to get any possible. video they can. We've seen cases where. it they investigate too late and the. video is lost. So here they got it right. away. You know, they were there the day. of the day after going around the. neighborhood pulling together whatever. video glimpses they could that might. shed some light on this situation. And.

it paid off. They got pictures, they got. video. And they also talk they say. investigators also discovered a shoe. impression on the northeast corner uh. rooftop edge of the Losi center. building. The shoe impression was. located in the vicinity where suspect. climbed down from the rooftop. The shoe. impression is consistent with the shoe. sole characteristics of a Converse Chuck. Taylor shoe. They also talked yesterday. about form forearm impressions, excuse. me, palm prints. I believe that has been. sent out for testing as well. Um they're. probably looking to see if it matches up.

to Robinson. Um, one thing to note here, and I was talking about this with Ellie. Honig yesterday, this is before there. was an arrest. Legal liability. You. know, one of the things you have to. wonder is whether or not the university, and you are a civil trial attorney, whether the university faces any. liability here in the sidebar I did. yesterday, there were concerns, there. were questions of reports about maybe a. lack in security. Were the tickets being. checked? Were there uh was there a lack. of actual um you know security. detectors? This appeared to be on the.

outside though, right? So on the rooftop. is the does the school face any. liability here? You think? >> Well, potentially this is going to be. heavily scrutinized. E every facet of. this is going to be heavily scrutinized. to determine if anybody else is. responsible, anybody else is involved, and anybody else is potentially at fault. from should he have been noticed getting. to campus, getting up on top of a.

building, should somebody have seen. that? Was there adequate security for an. event that not only had a prominent. speaker but had hundreds of students and. other people in attendance? Was there. adequate security? I don't know the. answers to any of those questions, but. those questions are going to be asked. >> And one of the things we talked about. yesterday was not only a potential. wrongful death or negligence lawsuit. filed potentially by Charlie Kirk's. family, but you know, people around. there who had to witness this very. traumatic event. This is when we always.

talk about uh infliction of emotional. distress. I want to move on to that. though. I want to go back to this. So it. says on the evening of September 11th, 2025, 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 UVU. Again, very. consistent with what we heard from the. press conference today. This information. was also conveyed to the FBI.

Investigators reviewed additional video. footage from UVU surveillance and. identified Robinson arriving on UVU. campus in a Grey Dodge Challenger at. approximately 8:29 on September 10th in. which he in which he is observed on. video in a plain maroon 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, early morning hours, Robinson was. observed in consistent clothing with the.

surveillance images. Wow, Rich, that's. uh that's interesting. >> Yeah, that's very interesting and sort. of um you know, if it's true, surprising. that he didn't uh change his clothes. more quickly. And then it says, "Investigators interviewed a family. member of Robinson who stated that. Robinson had become more political in. recent years. The family member. referenced a recent incident in which. Robinson came to dinner prior to. September 10th, 2025. And in. conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was.

coming to UVU. They talked about why. they didn't like him and the viewpoints. he had." The family member also stated. Kirk was full of hate and spreading. hate. The family member also confirmed. Robinson had a gray Dodge Challenger. Investigators identified an individual. as the roommate of Robinson. Investigators interviewed the 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, Robinson's. roommates's device. Uh, the content of. these messages, I'm changing here. The. content of these messages included. messages affiliated with the contact. Tyler stated stating 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, and a message referring to. having left the rifle wrapped in a. towel. The messages also refer to. engraving bullets and a mention of a. scope and the rifle being unique. Messages from the contact Tyler also. mentioned that he had changed outfits. Based on the evidence detailed in this. statement, I believe there is probable. cause that Tyler Robinson committed the. crimes of aggravated murder by shooting. Charlie Kirk in a circumstance that put.

many around him at grave risk of death, felony discharge of a firearm, and. obstruction of justice for moving and. hiding the rifle believed to have been. used in the shooting. Okay, first thing. I want to go through here, Rich. Now you. see why he's being charged with. aggravated murder. There is an. enhancement statute that's listed. They're basically saying that the reason. that you can get this as I believe a. capital offense, right, the highest. offense in Utah would be this was a. amounted to a danger to others in that.

crowd even though there was only one. shot fired at Charlie Kirk. >> Yeah, I think that's I think that is why. that's in there. And also it goes to the. issue of bail. Uh there might be other. ways to enhance this in terms of the. capital nature of the crime. I'd have to. look at the particular statute at issue, but the fact that it seems to have been. politically motivated might be pertinent. as well. Uh but yes, firing essentially. into a crowded event, very dangerous and.

probably gets you in enhanced. And one. of the things I talked about with Ellie. yesterday was the idea of maybe. potentially a terrorism quite charge. What was the purpose of this? Was it to. silence other people? Yeah. >> Yeah. That's what I was thinking when I. said political, you know, if if the if. the facts are that the purpose of this. was because of what Charlie Kirk had to. say and an effort to silence people of. that same viewpoint, then it could be.

viewed as a form of terrorism. And and. this is similar to Manion. One of the. things the way prosecutors have tried to. enhance that charges even though he's. accused of just shooting and killing. Brian Thompson, it was an inherently. dangerous activity that presented a risk. to others. You know, there was the. nearby bystander. This was in the middle. of a public street. So, this is what. they it seems to be consistent. >> Yeah. I've been thinking a lot about how. this is similar to Manion. And I've been. thinking about all of the people who.

support. Manioni because they they didn't like. the person he allegedly shot. And I've. been thinking that this is where that. line of thinking gets you. It gets more. people killed. >> And are you also thinking about. potentially jury nullification if this. advances towards formal charges and this. advances towards a jury trial? um. whether or not it will be difficult to. get a jury um because of unfortunately. I mean just look at what we're seeing.

online right now about people kind of. you know I don't know what the word is. minimali minimizing the idea that a. human being was shot in cold blood. Yeah, there there's some of that online, but my thinking is it's a lot you have a. lot better chance of getting jury. nullification where the victim was the. CEO of an insurance company. >> Sure. >> than where the victim was a young famous. advocate. Even though there are a lot of. people who didn't like his advocacy,

I I find it hard to believe you would. get a jury nullification in that case. I. mean I really I hope I hope very much. you don't of course. >> and when we talk about that is basically. a jury decides the case not based on the. facts of the evidence but their own. personal opinions their emotions and it. does become a question of jury selection. too about how you get a fair and. impartial jury. We are going a little. down the road here because one of the. things I just, you know, this amplifies. it too and there's a couple more. documents I want to get to, but it. amplifies people stepped up, right? They.

reported this to police. You have an. alleged confession. Not only are you. talking about uh particularly important. witnesses during this potential legal. process, this trial, but if it wasn't. for them, would he still potentially be. on the loose assuming he did this? >> So, we don't know. We don't know if the. law enforcement effort would have honed. in on him because they did a video. footage. They had some impressions. Um.

they might have over time been able to. find him, but yes, uh you know, a family. member and it sounds like there's a. roommate who was helpful in the. investigation. that at a minimum has allowed this to. happen a lot quicker than it might have. otherwise happened. >> So, we have a couple more documents. here. Uh, one is an order that has been. signed by Judge Shaun R. Howell. It is. an order to hold without bail based on. the affirmation of Brian Davis, again,

the arresting officer who I mentioned. before. The Understein magistrate finds. that probable cause existed for the. arrest without a warrant of Tyler James. Robinson. The current offense is a. capital felony and the court finds. substantial evidence to support the. charge. Therefore, the court orders that. Tyler James Robinson is to be held. without bail. And just to couple that, there is a public safety assessment. report. Kind of looks like this. Okay? And it talks about how the charge of. aggravated murder qualifies for what.

they say is PRL5. in red. You go down. PRL5 says if. statutory requirements are met, hold. without bail. if released, maximum. conditions recommended and or monetary. bail. So they believe that this is. serious enough that he should be held. without bail. >> Right. And I reviewed that assessment. and u he has no priors according to. that. No prior convictions, criminal or.

misdemeanor. So really there's nothing. else that would have compelled holding. him without bail except the seriousness. of the crime. And if you're going to be. accused of shooting somebody in a crowd. in the fashion that happened here, you're going to get held without bail. There's no way he would have gotten. bail. Yeah, you're right. There's a It. says risk factors. Age of current event. age of current arrest, 22. Current. violent offense, yes. Current violent. offense and 20 years old or younger, no.

Pending charge at the time of the. offense, no. Prior misdemeanor. conviction, no. Prior felony conviction, no. Prior conviction, no. Prior violent. offense, zero. Uh, prior failure to. appear in past two years, zero. Prior. failure to appear older than two years, no. Prior sentence to incarceration, no. You know, one of the things that's. interesting about this is he is not the. first criminal defendant suspect to be. charged with the most serious offense. that we have on the books, right? And.

this is his first apparent crime. Isn't. that always shocking to you? You know, we talk about it's not always, you know, a graduation to murder or somebody has a. criminal history. Sometimes when people. commit a crime, it's the worst one yet. >> It it it it happens too often to be. shocking to me anymore. There is no. there is no dependable way to know who's. going to commit a crime like this. You. can't base it on the number of times. they've been in trouble with the law or. their socioeconomic background or or any.

of the specific traits or their race or. their religion. There there's nothing. that would really tell you somebody. would do something so heinous and so out. of the norm of of human behavior as this. kind of crime. >> Um yeah, this is this is really. interesting. Before we wrap things up, um, were you expecting an arrest this. soon? I mean, it was very interesting. when the press conference happened.

yesterday. Um, I was surprised they had. that much information about the. suspected shooter, right? You know, they. talked about the timeline. They talked. about uh the surveillance footage, the. palm prints, and then, you know, there. was some misinformation or confusing. information about who was being. apprehended when, but I think it was a. little over 30 hours that they were able. to make an arrest. >> I didn't know what to expect. And I'll. tell you this, Jesse, th this is this is. the first public comments I've made. about this situation. I haven't posted.

about it on media. I haven't been on. YouTube or anywhere else about it. Partly because I didn't feel like I had. enough information to know what was. happening. And I saw a lot of people. speculating on who must have done this. or why they must have done it or what. type of person it must have been. And I. found that to be absolutely outrageous. And I still don't have enough. information to know for sure if this is. the right person or why this crime was.

committed. Um, but we do have a lot more. information. So, I had no expectation of. when this person would be caught because. I didn't know if it was somebody local. I didn't know if it was somebody. foreign. I didn't know I didn't know who. it was. and and I hope they found the. right person. >> There's still a lot of questions, a lot. of questions about this, uh the timing. of it, when he was shot, how he was. shot, um this suspect. So, we're in the. beginning stages of this. And again, we.

might be breaking down things in real. time just like this because it just came. out. Uh Rich Showenstein, thank you so. much for taking the time. Good to see. you. >> Good to see you, Jesse. >> 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. should get your podcast. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time. [Music].