Dark Secrets Emerge in Charlie Kirk Shooting Investigation

We have major updates in the Charlie. Kirk shooting. Now, investigators are. saying that DNA evidence directly links. the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, to this crime. We also have information. about messages that authorities say he. allegedly sent. It does become a. question where and how he sent them, but. we're going to break it all down with a. Utah reporter who has special insight. from the ground. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. [Music].

We're continuing our coverage of the. Charlie Kirk shooting and there have. been some major developments just in the. past 24 hours that we want to talk about. like how federal investigators now. reportedly say that DNA evidence. directly links 22-year-old Tyler. Robinson to this crime. In fact, according to FBI Director Cash Patel, Robinson's DNA was apparently found on a. towel used to wrap the rifle, the. alleged murder weapon in this case, and. even on a screwdriver recovered from the. rooftop where the shots were fired.

Speaking on Fox and Friends this. morning, Patel also said that Robinson. implied he was going to kill Charlie. Kirk in a text message conversation and. even wrote a note about this. That note, according to Patel, was destroyed. But. get this, according to Patel, law. enforcement was able to piece it back. together. Now, prosecutors also are. moving toward capital murder charges. As. of right now, at the time of this. recording, we are expecting Robinson to. make his first court appearance tomorrow. to be formally charged. But I will tell.

you in a sidebar from last week, we. covered this extensively. There is an. affidavit that reveals he was arrested. on suspicion of committing aggravated. murder, felony discharge of a firearm, and obstruction of justice. We will see. if those are the official charges that. are leveled against him. There is also. talk about whether or not he will face. federal charges. We'll get to that in a. minute. Now, Utah Governor Spencer Cox. has also confirmed that Robinson is not. cooperating with investigators. But now, while he may not be cooperating, turns.

out based on the reporting others around. him, including his roommate and family, they apparently are. It was his own. father who reportedly urged him to turn. himself in after recognizing him in. surveillance photos that were released. by the FBI. And now the big question of. course is motive. Why would somebody do. that? Right? That's the big question. right now that has been the focus of a. lot of different narratives. Well, family and friends apparently told. investigators that Robinson's politics. had hardened in recent years. That he.

had criticized Charlie Kirk specifically. as quote spreading hate. There were the. messages that were apparently engraved. on the shell casings left behind that. reference anti-fascist slogans, memes, song lyrics. Governor Cox confirmed that. Robinson was in this romantic. relationship with his transgender. roommate who has since reportedly turned. over disturbing messages about. retrieving and hiding a rifle. Although. I will tell you there was a strange back. and forth about whether this was through.

the gaming platform Discord or whether. this was over text message. conversations. It's a little strange. We'll talk about it. But this roommate. by all accounts was shocked by what. happened here. Now the investigation is. still unfolding. This community, this. nation is looking for answers about. motive, security, what this attack means. going forward. So to help break down the. latest developments, I want to bring on. friend of the show, Utah based reporter, host, anchor for KUTV2 News, Brian.

Schne. Brian, so good to see you. I. mean, my gosh, you and I were talking. almost every day when one of the biggest. cases in the entire country happened in. your state, Ruby Frankie. Now we're back. again, all eyes on Utah. Um, there are a. few points I want to hit with you. First, tell me though, who have you. spoken to? What have you learned on the. ground? Well, the very early days we. learned a lot um through the course of. just talking to people that work here. locally for federal agencies and.

whatnot. When we were there, I got on. scene to in ORM about an hour after the. shooting. I was sitting at my desk in. Salt Lake City preparing for a 12:30. interview. And at 12:29, I got a text. from a source who said, "Charlie Kirk. has been shot in the neck." Massive. response. So, I still conducted that. interview all while the phone started. blowing up and everything started. happening. And then we were able to get. down there about an hour or so after the. shooting took place. It's not a far. drive from Salt Lake for those not.

familiar with Oram. It is in Utah. County, which is just south of Salt Lake. County, which is where Salt Lake City. is. Um, kind of close to Provo where BYU. is. So, there's a lot of university. college students there in that area. between Utah Valley University and BYU. And what we were hearing early on is, "Oh, there was a person in custody and. then and then that person was released. and oh, there's another person in. custody and then that person was. released and then we've got this. information coming out from the FBI. director that that person has also been.

walked back and released." So, there was. this information disconnect in the early. hours of this where we knew the basics. We knew there was a single gun shop. We. knew it likely came from an elevated. location. We knew there was some law. enforcement there, but not a whole lot. and we were trying to figure out what. happened next and where did this. individual go. >> Now, you may already know this, but we. here at Sidebar, we produce so many. video clips a day and we use a platform. called Opus Clip. This may be of. interest to you. It's an all-in-one AI. editor that makes it easier and faster.

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>> And was it a the scene just insane? I. mean, just pan pandemonia. >> It was. And we purposely when I I was. driving in the car with my photographer, I said, "Don't go to the main entrance. of the university. We're not going to be. able to go anywhere." So my mindset was, "Let's go to the north side of the. university, the northeast side of the. university where there's some access. roads. It's kind of that backside to the. university." And when we got there, the. roads were closed, but boy did we see. local SWAT and and police combing the.

woods and looking through cars and just. marching back and forth to where at that. point we realized, okay, I don't think. they have their person. I don't have. think they have their individual. And we. were watching them, you know, use. canines on culverts and tracking certain. areas, going doortodoor, asking people. for surveillance video, which is where. some of that video eventually came from, where we saw Tyler Robinson walking down. the street. And I I was right in that. area. And did we know it at the time. that that was likely the escape route. after the shot? No. But when you were.

able to put pieces together, that is. certainly what it felt like. >> Yeah. The New York Post is reporting. there is this newly released. surveillance footage where you allegedly. see Robinson walking in that area hours. uh before the shooting. There are a lot. of questions right now. We'll talk about. Kesh Patel in a second, but there are a. lot of questions right now about. security. There are a lot of questions. about how if Robinson committed this. crime, he had access to that building. Are you getting any clearer sense about. whose responsibility was what? Was there.

a gap? Were there deficiencies? Was. there a lack of communication? Understanding a little bit more about. how if Robinson did do this, how he had. access to that roof and was able to fire. a shot at Charlie Kirk. >> Well, it's not clear how he gained entry. into that building and actually got onto. the roof. But obviously some of the. surveillance video you do see is on. campus going up and down a staircase, right? So if there was a door or a. certain access way that was left open. But what we did gather on Thursday. night. So keep in mind this happened. Wednesday in the early afternoon hours.

We finally heard from a university. representative on Thursday night who. spoke to just about two or three of us. in a small room right there in the. staging area at the Keller building on. the UVU campus. And we asked him about. what was everything followed correctly. within your policy and protocol for an. event where you have 3,000 eventgoers in. a amphitheater like open air venue. surrounded by tall buildings. and they. said yes, everything was followed per.

our protocol. To which we asked, well, what are you going to do now because you. have other events scheduled on campus, there's concerts, there's athletic. events. And one of the kids I spoke to, I say it was a kid because it was a high. school kid. Right when we got there, he. walked up to me and said, "Hey, I want. to tell you about what I saw." And we. were just about to do a live TV or a TV. hit for one of the national programs. I. said, "If you can hang tight, I'd like. to talk to you." and he he hung around. and he told me, I remember this vividly. and I also shared it on my social media. channels that he said, "I feel like I've.

seen more security and police presence. at sports events on campus than there. was for something like this political. speaking engagement, this this rally, if. you will, this, you know, organized. group where people can come and have. that freedom of exchange of ideas." And. we learned rather quickly in that first. press conference that there were only. six. >> uniformed UVU officers to which one of. my colleagues asked the Our mayor the. later that day or the next day were you. asked to participate in this and they. said no but we would have had they asked.

us. So was there a breakdown? Not really. on paper from what I've gathered. It. sounds like if they're telling. everything to us truthfully based on the. questions we've levied at the university. is that they followed everything they. would do for any other sort of um. community group sponsored event where. you know somebody like a turning point. would come back and have a speaking. engagement in that area. It sounds like. it was the same thing. However, this. obviously had deadly consequences for.

not having surveillance from up high. drones. I I was at a concert here in the. Salt Lake area just this past weekend, there was a police drone in the sky. I. don't know if I had just not noticed it. before, but with thousands of people in. an area, even after you walk through. metal detectors and all those things, >> there was none of that last Wednesday. None of it at all. >> Yeah. And look, hindsight could be 2020. We could say, "Oh, how could you not. have that? How could you not ask for the. police department's help?" But look, to. think about like something like this. happening, I mean, was it foreseeable? I.

don't know. We can debate that. What I. do want to know is what we're talking. about today because we just learned that. according to FBI director Cash Patel, Robinson's DNA was allegedly found on a. towel that was allegedly used to wrap. the rifle. A screwdriver recovered from. the uh rooftop where the shots were. fired. I mentioned earlier that uh Cash. Patel also revealed evidence of a note. and a text exchange suggesting he was. going to kill Charlie Kirk. What have.

you been learning and where does this. fit into the overall story? >> Well, this fits in exactly what I heard. Wednesday afternoon from a source when I. was in the area telling me they found. the weapon located in a brushy sort of. wooded area on campus, which by the way, there's not a whole lot of room there. There's like a couple canals that move. through and it's pretty tightly knit. there on the UBU campus. But again, this. is kind of close to the area where I was. standing that day. Jesse, we learned. that I I learned rather quickly through.

a single source that that gun was. recovered on Wednesday when I was there. and it was recovered rather quickly. within the first few hours of that. search and that it was wrapped in a. towel. Now, the picture we saw floating. around on social media, which I could. not verify, showed that rifle that was. in an open box, if you will. I had not. heard about the box, but I had heard. about the towel. So now that we're. hearing from Cash Patel saying this. towel that lines up to what I heard just. hours after the shooting on Wednesday. and it makes total sense. I mean if they.

feel like they have their individual and. they put together these pieces finally. after having the other individual who we. were found uh just actually uh a. probable cause affidavit for the first. individual that was taken in and you see. those viral videos of that older. gentleman who has the obstruction of. justice charge against him right now. after they move through this George Den. Yes. And he claimed, according to police. numerous times, I shot the guy. I shot. the guy, but he wanted to be a. deflecting matter, if you will, for the. actual shooter. So, the obstruction of.

justice charge is now being pushed on. George Zinn. And the the towel and the. rifle doesn't surprise me as new. I I. know it's new to us today, >> right? >> But based on what I heard days ago, that. lines up exactly with what I had heard. from a federal source. Brian, I'm. actually really happy to have you on for. a number of reasons, but one of the. reasons is it has been very tough for us. here on Cybar to report accurate. information about what is going on. I I. find this very confusing. You know, Cash. Patel uh came out this interview on Fox.

and Friends and said that he has no. regrets uh by the message he put forward. initially before Robinson was arrested. where he said the subject had been taken. into custody and then was released. He. said, uh, could I have worded it a. little better in the heat of the moment? Sure. But do I but do I regret putting. it out? Absolutely not. Um, do you find. it difficult right now? Do you think the. public is getting the full picture as. this investigation continues? Because. once we even get into the discord.

conversation about what was said, what I. mean, let's put that to the side. Do you. find it difficult for the public to. understand what exactly is going on. here? I thought that in the early hours. or the early days, I think people were. owed a little bit more preliminary. information quicker and in a more. accurate fashion. There was so much. complexity to the early hours of this. investigation after the shooting that. there was this catch and releaseleas. sort of thing because there were so many. people there and you had all these. political views and all these people. that had these ideas that for some.

reason they would spit something out of. their mouth that said I did this when. they didn't and and that whole thing was. a mass confusion. I do think there's a. disappointment that we would say hearing. from the FBI director, hey, we have this. individual in custody. It's the suspect. That's why they were so quick to use the. word person of interest early on because. they didn't think they wanted the public. to get the wrong picture of suspect. versus somebody we believe may be. connected to this incident, right? Was. this one shooter? Was this multiple. people in the crowd where it was. coordinated? And then now we learn.

really at this point it seems like it. was one individual who may have at least. had those conversations which you. alluded to on the Discord app. The. information flow was tough. Um you may. have noticed that there was very little. leaking of information out there. It was. very tight- lipped. Um I I would say I. was surprised how little information was. coming out especially from of our. national partners right that that. typically have really good highle. sources in certain areas. On the local. level, I knew exactly who was. spearheading the information flow. It.

started with the university and then. quickly stopped and then it took this. larger scale from the state to come in. and disseminate that information which. you know was it a little messy at times? Yes. But I believe everyone was getting. that limited information all at once. We. weren't getting everything. You know, it. was very selective the information that. was being released. It was that real 5%, right? that 5% is being put out or maybe. less than that 5% with a lot of thank. yous at a press conference which isn't.

information. You know, the patting on. the back is not information. We as the. public people want the information. yesterday. I understand the delicacies. though of this Jesse because this is. perhaps the highest profile thing to. happen in Utah in a decade, maybe more. Uh unfortunately, has the state back on. the map again? You and I have talked. about a number of things happening in. Utah over the years now. Nothing quite. like this. It was disturbing. It was. heinous. It was unfortunate that so many.

of our young individuals in our area had. to witness this firsthand. But at the. end of the day, there's this yearning. for information. And was it slow? Yeah, I think it was. Was it inconsistent? Yes, it was inconsistent. And I think. that's where a lot of people may have. gripes. A and look, there's a lot of. questions right now, particularly about. information about the motive and why he. would have allegedly done this. And. something we've heard a bit about is. Robinson's online influences, whether he. was being radicalized online. We had.

previously heard rumblings that he might. have been involved in this online groper. movement, this far-right faction of. followers of commentator Nick Fuentes. And Newsweek even reported that the. killing of Charlie Kirk has reignited. attention on this movement, the Groper. movement, reportedly known for its. confrontational style. It's rooted. apparently in white nationalist, alt-right, Christian nationalist. circles. It's frequently targeted Kirk. for being too moderate. Online, we've. seen reporting that Robinson maybe.

didn't like Kirk because he wasn't. conservative enough. However, it is. important to note that we haven't. confirmed this information ourselves. State records reveal that Robinson was. listed as an inactive voter at the time. of his arrest and didn't have an. affiliation. Governor Spencer Cox has. confirmed that Robinson became more. political in recent years that before. the Utah Valley University event. He had. discussed Kirk's viewpoints during a. family dinner. In fact, FBI co-epy. director Dan Bonino told Fox News today.

that Robinson had a quote obsession with. Charlie Kirk. also saying that there. were potential warning signs, adding, "I. believe co-workers stated he had. detached himself when the topic of. politics came up and walked away." Uh, Bonino warned, "Did they hear it and. think it was a joke? This is what we're. trying to find out now." This is what he. told Fox News. If there is a larger. network here, we will get that out to. the public as soon as we can. Now, Robinson is also apparently or in this.

romantic relationship with his roommate. And as we stated earlier, this is. somebody who was apparently. transitioning from male to female and. from what we know has cooperated with. investigators. Cox emphasized that. authorities are still trying to. understand how that personal. relationship may have factored into this. attack or not, but the FBI has stressed. that they are still investigating. Robinson's background, the possible. motive, and right now they are declining. to provide more insight into political.

motivations. Brian, where do you see. this conversation going? What have you. seen in terms of what the potential. background motivations. events leading into this alleged attack. by Robinson? >> A lot of the same. We heard about those. family conversations pretty quickly uh. about the family that actually helped. turn him in after they learned this in. Washington County, which you're familiar. with Washington County. It's in the. southwest part of the state, so this is. not close to where UVU was. We also.

learned that he had learned about. Charlie Kirk being in the area um about. a week or two prior and there were those. conversations that they eventually. started to find on the Discord app. talking about uh different things. But. there was this there was this moment. where I kind of realized it could have. gone this direction. It's when I learned. that there were more of the inscriptions. um and engravings and either the weapon. or the bullets. And that was something. as soon as I heard that which was uh. quickly because again I learned about.

the firearm rather quickly but did not. put that out because of the constant. information. barrage that was incorrect. I really. wanted to be careful which is why a lot. of these things I didn't put out. immediately because there was so much. bad information and misinformation being. spread about this entire thing. That is. when I realized that there may be more. to the story than just a individual was. a little upset but maybe had gone down a. completely different path which is what. we're hearing now about Tyler Robinson.

as the FBI continues to investigate. this. Um heard some rumblings about a. roommate that didn't come out until a. little bit later. Did not know about the. transgender situation or the. transitioning or any of that. But now as. the story plays itself out, you do. realize why initially they were calling. this a political assassination. Not just. because there was a political figure. that is there that has these political. views and discusses political topics and. gets the youth involved in these. political conversations, but because.

there's this other side that this very. well is potentially politically. motivated in some which way, shape, or. form based on viewpoints. And just to be. clear, have you seen anything from your. reporting. whether or not Robinson was leaning more. left or was leaning more right or do we. still not know? >> The only potential confirmation we've. gotten on that is what the governor has. said, which he says leftist ideology,

right? That's what we heard very early. on. Um, and that's what he confirmed on. the Sunday morning shows. basically ran. the gamut on all the Sunday shows. Um, you know, it I hate to say it it doesn't. surprise me based on some of the. preliminary information we were. gathering about the additional. information they were going to uncover. potentially about the suspected shooter. >> He has his first court appearance. scheduled for tomorrow. Anything that. you have seen to indicate that he. wouldn't be charged with what he was.

currently booked on, right? aggravated. murder, felony discharge of a firearm. obstruction, and right before we came. on, uh, at least News Nation and. potentially a few other outlets have. been reporting that federal charges. could be at play. I'm not exactly sure. what those federal charges would be. Um, you know, there's no federal domestic. terrorism charge. There's no just. baseline federal murder charge. You. know, I mentioned it before when you. talk about the Manion case. That was. murder through stalking, you know, over.

interstate lines. I'm not sure if that. applies here, but um have you heard. anything about federal charges? Do you. get any glean about what we can expect. tomorrow? I mean, what should we expect. tomorrow regarding that first court. appearance? >> Federal charges, I don't I don't I've. not confirmed that those would be on the. table because I like you have no idea. what that charge would be based on that. investigation. Now, obviously, there's. federal involvement here, right? This. has been basically federal involvement. since the very beginning. I would have a. hard time believing that any of those. charges that you mentioned on the on the.

booking would be less than. I think it. would be more than. And is that because. of pressure? Is that because of. attention? Perhaps. Maybe there's more. things they found that they can add on. We've seen that in plenty of other. cases. You get somebody on one small. charge, but then they're going to tack. on five, six, seven other things to just. add as an emphasis to make sure there. really couldn't be a strong plea deal. here in any way. Right. I know that they. were discussing death penalty very early. on in this. The governor is correct. We. do have the death penalty still on the.

table in this state. We were scheduled. to have an execution on September 5th. that was ultimately blocked by the Utah. Supreme Court out of competency. These. things are very fluid here in Utah, especially over the last few years where. we had a death penalty situation. actually uh completed last year and had. another one on the books for earlier. this month. So, the governor very fresh. on his mind mentioning that as well. It'd be interesting to see where the. Utah County Attorney's Office goes. Currently, they have um one, if not two.

capital murder cases right now on their. plate involving a man who um rammed into. a police officer last year and killed. him on the freeway. And also another. individual who killed two little. children a few years ago in a horse. stable while high on methamphetamine. Both of those are capital charges right. now at the murder level. This adds. another big case, perhaps the biggest. case depending if you're going to play. those cards, um, to this county. attorney's office in Utah. And I have no. doubt in my mind they want to get this.

right. I mean, they were already they. were already given the directive. indirectly based on press conferences. alone that both the governor and the. president of the United States want to. see a death penalty on on the table. here. I don't I don't foresee it not being. there just because the statements have. been put out, but I do think the. harshest of the harshest penalties will. probably be levied at the very beginning. and then of course you have to wait and. see how the court process plays out, Jesse, because it could be slow as as. can be from here on forward. >> And this court appearance tomorrow, what.

should we expect in terms of the actual. process of it? Um do you know if there's. going to be cameras allowed, what time. it starts, how long it's going to be, who's going to be there, anything like. that? If it is tomorrow, which I have not seen. it confirmed, but if it is tomorrow and. the timing, cameras will definitely be. allowed. If it's an in-person hearing or. a WebEx hearing in Utah, you can apply. for pool. Utah is a pool a pool state, so there's one media outlet that has. that camera whether it's in person or.

online. And uh it would be pretty. standard, I'd imagine, with an initial. appearance sort of thing based on those. the reading of the charges. U they'll. schedule something out next. I can't. imagine it being a very long appearance, Jesse, just because of what it is. It. would probably run in line of every. other initial appearance that comes out. It is very quick. You read the charges. you establish to make sure you have. attorney or somebody present or a public. defender, which if that's the case, if. it's a public defender, that is going to. run the gamut in Utah County with these.

public defenders that have already are. already working on capital murder. charges and cases right now. So, it. could get complex based on the docket of. other things that are already out there. in this county for other higher profile. situations that have taken place here in. the state. I'd imagine tomorrow, if it. is tomorrow, the initial appearance. won't last long. >> Okay. Now, let's talk about this. The. the possibility that Robinson had shared. details about the killing of Charlie. Kirk with his roommate, including. messages about retrieving a rifle from a. drop point, hiding it in a bush,

references to engraving the bullet. casings. Initially, law enforcement. indicated that some of those. communications came through Discord. The. company actually disputes that. One of. our reporters spoke to a Discord. spokesperson who said, "During our. investigation, Discord identified an. account belonging to the suspect. We. have not found or received any evidence. that the suspect planned this incident. or promoted violence on Discord. The. messages referenced in reporting about. weapon retrieval and planning details. were not Discord messages and likely.

took place on a phone numberbased. messaging platform. We continue to work. closely with the FBI and local. authorities and will continue to deliver. prompt responses for to their requests. for assistance. However, in the probable. cause affidavit, which we talked about. last week, police are clear about what. they say they were shown from Robinson's. roommate. That part of the affidavit. reads, "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. 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. 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. mention that he had changed outfits. And.

now, and this is brand new, just came. down right before we came on. Brian, I. don't even know if you know this, but. the Washington Post is reporting that. Robinson not only was communicating on. Discord, but that he even allegedly. admitted responsibility in an online. group chat just hours before his arrest. According to two people familiar with. the exchange, Robinson wrote, "Hey guys, I have bad news for you all. It was me. at UVU yesterday. I'm sorry for all of. this." and a member of the group chat.

shared screenshots of this alleged. confession with the post. Brian, I mean, again, I think we're still a little. confused as to what was communicated and. where. >> Well, the the newest information is news. to me. I mean, that obviously just came. out moments ago, but the Discord. conversations were the very first. emission, if you will, that we could. understand that there was a a potential. connection via conversation that Tyler.

Robinson was in the area at UVU. Now, we. also know they have video of his gray. challenger in the area. We also know. they have video of that on the freeway. through license plate readers heading. from north to south. Discord is where we. first heard. So, it's interesting to. hear it walked back in a way, Jesse. Um, regardless if it was Discord or if the. investigators didn't realize that it was. another chat platform, Discord is not. the only app out there where you can. have these um, conversations where.

they're very popular on social media. these days. Keep in mind, Tyler Robinson. was described by the roommates and the. people around him as a Reddit kid. Um, not to put any flak on Reddit in any. way, but there are definitely some. heated conversations and hearty. conversations on Reddit. So, it sounds. like from what we've gathered that Tyler. Robinson could have been on Discord or a. very similar app to that. There are. other apps that people use like Kick and. some of these other ones that are very. uh popular to have these conversations. on these group chats. Discord is also u.

an app that is used through the game. Roblox too. So, were they looking at a. different a different um. screen at the time that wasn't routed. directly through Discord? Was it used as. a a a sharing sort of network through a. different platform where Discord is used. as the host? That's a possibility. That. point just speculating because initially. we thought Discord was the way that he. communicated. So, it's interesting to. hear um that he also had this group. chat. That's news to me. But there you.

go. The evidence keeps building against. this individual where it makes me seem. like, hey, they they finally have their. person. But again, a lot of the. understanding about how Tyler Robinson. came to be, from my understanding at. least, is they were able to find some. sort of trail through social media. leading them to him, which is where they. were able to identify him. Not. necessarily the admission of anything. early on, but at least his image to. social media to identify the two because.

for a while we didn't know who this. individual was in that photo, which by. the way was distributed four or five. different ways and AI fakes, which. didn't help the situation. So, I think. they had a hard time identifying it. first and foremost. Had to use social. media to do so. And then once they get. there and figure out this individual is. identifiable via social media, you. obviously see that footprint fall out. and know that he's been communicating on. those platforms. Interesting to note. that he has been talking about it. though. We knew about the drop point for. the gun very early on, which is when I.

realized that gun was likely in a. location very close to where I was. standing when we saw that massive law. enforcement presence when we got on. campus just about 90 minutes after the. shooting. Brian, before we wrap things. up, I just want to go back to something. that you started. I mean, all eyes on. this country in this country around the. world, they're all on Utah once again. You are at the center of this. You're. covering one of the biggest stories that. is going to have such a major impact. I.

mean, it already has on this country. What is it like for you and the. community? >> Well, um, it's been a lot of deep size. and trying to comprehend things. It kind. of goes to what the governor said, Jesse, early on when he was standing. there next to Cash Patel uh the first. night that they spoke and it was the. evening that Cash Patel did not speak. It was just the governor and the DPS. commissioner making their way through. the video surveillance. Um but saying. that we didn't believe. this could be happening here in Utah,

let alone one of our own from Utah. And. that was actually after they were able. to identify Tyler Robinson um as the. potential suspect. But just driving. around the Salt Lake area over the last. few days, there's been signs, there's. been things written on cars, you know, in remembrance of Charlie Kirk. I I'm. constantly asked about it, whether it be. in public, via text, just out at. something else completely not. workrelated.

There's a lot of questions. People are. very, very interested in this, whether. they knew of Charlie Kirk or not. Keep. in mind, Charlie Kirk had an audience. We all know the audience very young uh. very interested in the debate. Uh. obviously leaning in in maybe a certain. direction based on Charlie's affiliation. um you know with the current. administration and his relationships. there. It's been uneasy. It's been. heavy. We've had some really heavy days. here in Utah over the last month where.

we had two officers shot and killed in a. domestic violence situation. just when we thought it was heavy. enough, it keeps getting heavier in a. different situation in a different light. with an extremely high-profile, highly. followed individual who had planned to. come to Utah and make two stops here, which we know that Eric Kirk will likely. continue with Turning Point USA. At. least she vouched to do that. But just. the week before Charlie came here, he. had a video that he posted with Utah. Senator Mike Lee where paraphrasing. here, Mike Lee said, "We welcome you.

with open arms." And that stuck with me. because. so many welcomed Charlie Kirk with open. arms here, but one, two, three, five, 10, a small percentage. did not. And it was very evident based. on not just the one individual who was. in custody right now, but the others who. wanted to obstruct the investigation and. had certain viewpoints that were in the. crowd that day. So, it's been very. difficult to kind of comprehend that a. yes, it it did happen here and it's.

disheartening and b it brings up the. bigger conversation as we mentioned and. as we talked about about security um. just going about your day, just going to. large events, keeping a a head on a. swivel. I said that on live TV on. Wednesday when we were on TV for about. three and a half, four hours straight. Pardon me if you see me looking around, but we don't believe the individual's. been caught yet. So, is that person. still around us? Are they still here? It. was a sense of being uneasy in the. moment and then taking a lot of deep.

breaths and trying to understand and. collect your thoughts the following. days. >> Well, I'm very very sorry to hear like. the impact that you just described. Um, and particularly the death of those. officers, uh, you know, just couples. everything that's going on there for you. in the community. It's very difficult to. hear. I think it's a tough time for the. country in general trying to make sense. of this and we are in the early stages. We're still trying to understand the. backstory if he did this, whether there. were any connections, whether or not. anybody really knew what might have been. going on before it happened um based on.

uh Deputy Director Bonino's statements. So, we'll continue to cover it. I know. you will, too. Brian Schne, we always. love having you and always value your. incredible reporting. You can check them. out on KUTV2 News. Brian Schne, thank. you so much. Stay safe out there. Okay, >> thanks for having me. And that is all we. have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, 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. I'll speak to you next time. [Music].