Prosecutors will search the loss of life penalty for Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old man accused of killing Charlie Kirk with a single shot at Utah Valley College, officers introduced Tuesday.
Robinson has been charged with seven counts, Grey mentioned, together with one rely of aggravated homicide and two counts of obstruction of justice, for allegedly hiding the rifle used within the killing and disposing of his garments.
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Robinson can be dealing with two counts of witness tampering after he allegedly instructed his roommate to delete incriminating texts, and asking them to not discuss to investigators in the event that they had been questioned by authorities.
Kirk, 31, was an influential determine in conservative and right-wing circles, successful reward for his views on heated matters, together with abortion, immigration and gender identification.
His loss of life by a single gunshot throughout a talking engagement at Utah Valley College shocked the nation and has led to vigorous debate over the motivations of his accused killer.
The FBI mentioned it collected a screwdriver containing Robinson’s DNA on the rooftop of a constructing at Utah Valley College and a firearm wrapped in a towel that had been discarded in a close-by wooded space. The towel additionally had Robinson’s DNA on it, FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned, including that the firearm was nonetheless being processed for forensic proof.
As Robinson was set to look in court docket for the primary time, Patel appeared earlier than the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the place he confronted harsh questioning and criticism over his dealing with of the company and the instant investigation into Kirk’s killing.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the highest Democrat on the committee, accused Patel of releasing incorrect details about the capturing to be able to take credit score for the arrest.
“Director Patel again sparked mass confusion by incorrectly claiming on social media that the shooter was in custody — which he then had to walk back with another social media post,” Durbin mentioned in his opening remarks. “Mr. Patel was so anxious to take credit for finding Mr. Kirk’s assassin that he violated one of the basics of effective law enforcement: at critical stages of an investigation, shut up and let the professionals do their job.”
However Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) defended Patel’s dealing with of the Kirk probe.
“I’ve seen no reason for the armchair quarterbacks to be criticizing his performance,” Cornyn mentioned. “I mean, it took roughly 33 hours to arrest the killer. And you know, there’s always a certain fog that goes along with emergency situations like this. So I know initially they thought they had their man, but turned out not.”
Throughout the listening to, Patel mentioned investigators had interviewed quite a few folks tied to Robinson, together with relations, associates and his associate.
Patel confirmed Robinson’s associate was transitioning from male to feminine.
He added that the supply and reasoning behind engravings on the shell casings remains to be underneath investigation.
Officers are nonetheless inspecting whether or not “anyone was involved as an accomplice.”
Brokers are additionally interviewing individuals who interacted with the suspect on-line, Patel mentioned.
That features a Discord chat that appears to have concerned greater than 20 folks moments after the capturing.
“We’re running them all down,” Patel mentioned.
The FBI, he mentioned, is “going to be investigating anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat.”
