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By Casey Tolan, Scott Glover, Curt Devine, Jeff Winter, Isabelle Chapman, Allison Gordon, John Miller, CNN
Washington, Utah (CNN) — Growing up in a Utah suburb, Tyler Robinson seemed to be on a promising path: he had a close-knit family, scored well on standardized tests, and earned a 4.0 GPA, according to social media posts.
After graduating high school in 2021, he filmed a video proudly reciting a letter from Utah State University offering him a four-year merit scholarship.
But Robinson left the state school after just a semester, taking a leave of absence and never returning.
Now, authorities are working to understand what happened in the intervening years that led Robinson to the rooftop where he allegedly gunned down conservative activist Charlie Kirk this week.
The brazen murder – the latest in a string of attempted and successful assassinations of political leaders in recent years – has led to anguished recriminations across America’s political spectrum.
While police are still investigating the killing, authorities have pointed to what they described as anti-fascist messages engraved on bullet casings in a rifle found near the deadly shooting as potential evidence of a political motive.
One bullet was inscribed with “Hey fascist! Catch!” – a message that Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Friday “speaks for itself.” A family member of Robinson’s told investigators that the suspected shooter “had become more political in recent years,” and in particular had lashed out at Kirk at a recent family dinner, Cox said.
But the messages on the bullet casings also included a mix of memes and allusions to video games, suggesting a deep immersion in an irony-soaked online world where meanings can be difficult to precisely decipher.
Those messages included a series of arrows representing the controls used to carry out an attack in the video game Helldivers 2 and lyrics of a popular Italian song linked to anti-fascists – but also popularized more recently in another game, Far Cry 6, and a Netflix series.
‘Quiet all the time’
People who knew Robinson described differing memories of his political leanings. An electrician who worked with Robinson on a job just a few weeks ago – and asked not to be named, like others who spoke about Robinson, due to the sensitivity of the situation – described his colleague as a shy presence who “wasn’t talkative unless he was spoken to.”
Robinson “didn’t really talk political… unless someone brought it up,” the electrician said, adding that “he wasn’t too fond of Trump or Charlie (Kirk).”
But several years ago in high school, Robinson – like his family – was politically conservative, and supported President Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 election, one of Robinson’s former classmates told CNN.
“When I knew him and his family, they were like diehard Trump,” said the former classmate. “When this happened, I was like… I don’t know what changed.”
Voter registration records show that Robinson is currently registered to vote unaffiliated with any party, although he never cast a ballot, the Washington County clerk said in a statement.
The former classmate described Robinson as being “very, very big into gaming” and interested in video game design. Robinson and his friends “would spend their lunches playing the card games and all that kind of stuff,” he said.
Robinson was “quiet all the time” and “a little goofy,” the classmate said, adding he didn’t remember him making concerning statements or getting into trouble. “He was fun to be around, fun to talk to. He just was kind of shy and didn’t open up very often.”
Now, people who knew Robinson are struggling to reconcile their image of him with the allegations laid out by police.
After a 33-hour manhunt by a phalanx of federal and local officials and pleas to the public for assistance, a law enforcement official told CNN, it was Robinson’s family that helped arrange his capture after his father recognized him in photos released by the FBI.
Robinson so far has not spoken to investigators – leaving authorities to continue their work to understand the roots of the killing.
Bullet casings and online memes
Robinson’s hometown is a quiet suburb of St. George, a city in the southwest corner of the state. His parents, who did not respond to requests for comment, are registered Republicans, according to state voter records, and are seen in the community as friendly and helpful, neighbors said.
Social media photos show the family traveling and enjoying outdoor activities – including some that showed Robinson and his brothers handling guns. Other photos suggested Robinson had long been deeply engaged with online culture: In one Halloween photo, his mother noted that Robinson was dressed as “some guy from a meme.”
Robinson graduated from Pine View High School in St. George in 2021, a spokesperson for the school confirmed. He received a resident presidential scholarship to attend Utah State University, according to a Facebook video his mother posted of him reading a letter about the award.
A spokesperson for the university said in statement Friday that Robinson “briefly attended Utah State University for one semester in 2021.” He was a pre-engineering major at the university but took a leave of absence after his first semester, the spokesperson said.
Robinson then enrolled at Dixie Technical College in St. George, a spokesperson for the college said in a statement. He is currently a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program, and according to state records, obtained an apprentice electrician license in 2022.
Robinson most recently lived in an apartment complex in St. George, where one 25-year-old neighbor told CNN that he’d spoken with him a handful of times, though he didn’t recall the alleged gunman having strong views on politics.
“I thought he was a Republican, but I guess I was wrong about that,” the neighbor said.
Another neighbor who lived in the complex, who also asked not to be named, described Robinson as “super reclusive,” and said he rarely saw him outside. The neighbor said Robinson appeared to have at least one roommate.
Robinson’s family home was in a neighborhood a 10-minute drive away. Jesse Garcia, who lives a few houses down from Robinson’s family, said he had seemed like a “normal person.” Garcia said he would see Robinson around the neighborhood and couldn’t recall any warning signs of political violence.
“I would have never thought that about him,” Garcia said, adding Robinson’s arrest has “me and my family in complete awe.”
Cox said that a family member of Robinson had told investigators that at a recent family dinner, Robinson had mentioned Kirk’s upcoming event at Utah Valley University, and “they talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” Cox said. “The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”
It’s about a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Robinson’s hometown to the Utah Valley campus, where he allegedly shot Kirk Wednesday afternoon while the well-known activist was holding an event.
In the aftermath of the shooting, police found a bolt-action rifle left in a wooded area near the campus.
Bullet casings in the rifle had phrases engraved on them, police said, including, “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao ciao” – an apparent reference to an Italian anti-fascist song that has since taken on new meanings in video gaming and online culture.
Other engravings hinted more at connections to online trolling and memes, including one that said, “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.”
As police circulated images of the suspected shooter on Thursday, Robinson’s father became convinced they showed his son and confronted him.
“Tyler, is this you? This looks like you,” he asked the 22-year-old, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN. His son acknowledged that it was him, the source said, and when his father urged him to turn himself in, suggested that he would rather kill himself.
But after his father convinced him to talk with a youth pastor, the source said, Robinson agreed to be taken into custody.
CNN’s Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Rob Kuznia contributed reporting.
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