【By Observer News, Liu Bai】"I'm almost certain we've caught him. He's been arrested."
On the September 12 Fox Morning Edition program, U.S. President Trump suddenly announced the capture of the shooter.
"Basically, it was someone very close to him who turned him in to the police," said Trump.
This came nearly 40 hours after the well-known conservative political figure Charlie Kirk was shot.
The shooter is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Utah. Perhaps more attention-grabbing is that he comes from a MAGA family.
This clearly surprised Trump.
"We caught him!" At the morning press conference that day, Utah Governor Cox was quite excited. He revealed more details to the public.
From a shy student to a shooter with multiple serious charges; from a die-hard Trump supporter to shooting a MAGA flag bearer Kirk.
Robinson's life took a sharp turn, even his family was taken by surprise. A gunshot may have unveiled the deepest division within the conservative camp.
On September 12, Utah Governor Spencer Cox made a speech at a press conference announcing the arrest of the suspect who shot Charlie Kirk. Visual China
Father encouraged him to surrender
Robinson is a local from Utah and currently a third-year electrical apprentice student at Dixie Technical College, living with his parents for "a considerable period." Dixie Technical College is one of 16 higher education institutions in Utah, about a 3.5-hour drive from the incident site.
According to state records reviewed by Reuters, Robinson has no criminal record.
FBI officials stated that Robinson was arrested by Utah state and local police in Washington County around 10 p.m. local time on the 11th.
Law enforcement officials said there was no conflict during the arrest of Robinson.
Because the shooter escaped on the spot, the FBI had previously offered a $100,000 reward for public clues. Utah authorities quickly received over 7,000 clues from the public, setting a record for the most clues received for a single FBI case since the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
And the person Trump referred to as "very close to Robinson" was actually Robinson's father, Matt Robinson, 48 years old.
At the press conference, Cox praised the Robinson family's selfless actions.
After a 36-hour large-scale search, it was Matt Robinson who recognized his son from a photo released by the FBI.
According to law enforcement officials, Matt asked "Tyler, is this you?" and upon receiving an affirmative response, he persuaded his son to surrender to the police through a youth pastor's coordination.
The young suspect initially refused, but later changed his mind.
Photos of Robinson on social media, and images of the suspect captured at the scene
A Family of MAGA
At the beginning of the shooting incident, Trump hurriedly attributed the event to "radical left-wing fanatics" and threatened, "We must strike them hard!"
However, surprisingly, Robinson actually comes from a large "MAGA" (Make America Great Again) family.
Up to now, Trump has not retracted his statement.
Robinson is a registered voter but not affiliated with any party, and is listed as an "inactive" voter, indicating he did not vote in the last election. His parents are registered Republican voters.
According to Debby Robinson, 69, Robinson's grandmother, the entire Robinson family are supporters of Trump.
"My son, Tyler's father, is a staunch Republican supporter of Trump," she said. "Most of my family members are Republicans, and I don't know anyone in my family who is a Democrat."
Debby said that after her grandson's arrest, she could not contact her son Matt.
She said she felt "extremely confused" about her grandson's arrest, because he was "the most reserved person."
"He never talked to me about politics," Robinson had "never caused any trouble before."
Social media accounts show that Robinson has two younger brothers. His father Matt runs a countertop stone company, and his mother Amber Robinson is a nurse at a non-profit medical institution. The whole family are Mormons, active in their local church.
On Amber's social media account, there are many photos of her son or other family members attending gun shows and holding guns, including a photo of Robinson at age 12.
On the 12th, his gray Dodge Challenger was parked outside his parents' two-story stucco house. Robinson arrived at the University of Utah Valley campus in the same car around 8:29 a.m. on the day of the incident.
The Robinson family's residential area is a newly developed community surrounded by alfalfa fields.
Dozens of media reporters and multiple police cars gathered outside the house, and police prevented journalists from approaching.
People who knew Robinson recall that he was a "deeply addicted to games" young man, often playing card games with friends during lunchtime at high school. Classmates described him as "quiet," but "fun to be with and never showed extreme tendencies."
Neighbor Steven Green said he met the family through the nearby Mormon church.
"It's a good family, and the kids are also good," but Green didn't know much about Robinson.
21-year-old Canyon Timothy said he was a year below Robinson in high school, and Robinson was like many other students, who liked music and often played with band classmates.
"I just saw him occasionally. He was a normal kid," Timothy said. He lived two streets away from the Robinsons. "Robinson was quiet, but not too quiet."
Perfect GPA in High School
Alaska, Caribbean, and Disney trips, school plays, Halloween costumes, adopted rabbits, and the joy of children's graduation... these were all the happy moments shared by Robinson and his family on social media.
From each photo, it can be seen that the Robinson family loves outdoor travel, with many pictures of hunting with guns. Another Halloween photo shows the mother noting that her son dressed up as a character from an internet meme.
But after the incident, these posts are being deleted one by one. Those past happy times have vanished forever.
Going back four years. At the age of only 18, Robinson had an enviable start to his life.
This Utah teenager performed excellently in the college entrance exam, achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA in high school and winning a four-year scholarship to Utah State University's Logan campus.
Amber proudly posted a video on Facebook where Robinson read out the acceptance letter from the university.
"He was very excited about starting his new journey, which would be a surprising experience!" Amber wrote in another post.
Robinson's photo Social Media
But this seemingly promising young man only attended university for one semester and then took a leave of absence, never returning.
Now, investigators are trying to find out why this 22-year-old from a MAGA family ended up on the roof of Utah Valley University, shooting MAGA flag bearer Kirk.
Although the motive is not yet confirmed, the press conference on the 12th revealed some clues.
Utah Governor Cox told reporters that a family member of Robinson told law enforcement that during the last family dinner before the incident, Robinson mentioned that Kirk would give a speech at Utah Valley University, and told his family that he really disliked Kirk and his views, as well as his spread of hate speech.
"They talked about why they didn't like him (Kirk) and his positions," Cox said, but did not reveal further details.
Password on the Bullet Case
Family members told investigators that Robinson "has become increasingly radical in politics in recent years." At the same time, police found ammunition at the scene with suspected political motives. People may get a glimpse into the shooter's mind.
According to Cox, Robinson's roommate showed investigators messages sent via the communication app Discord from an account named "Tyler." "Tyler" said he had changed clothes and needed to retrieve a "rifle left in the bushes," and mentioned engraved bullets, sights, etc.
After the incident, police found a old-style high-powered bolt-action rifle wrapped in a towel in the woods near Utah Valley University, with a spent shell casing and three bullets still in the chamber.
From the inscriptions on the bullets, it is clear that Robinson was greatly influenced by online culture, including anti-fascist movements.
The three unfired bullets found at the scene, one of which is engraved with "Hey, Fascist! Take this!", along with an upward arrow, a right arrow, and three downward arrows, which are control key identifiers used in the game "Raptor: Call of the Shadows 2" when executing attack actions.
Another bullet is engraved with lyrics from the Italian anti-fascist song "Arrivederci, Amici," which is dedicated to Italian partisans fighting against Nazi Germany during World War II.
Another bullet is engraved with "If you're reading this, you're a homosexual, lmao," which also originates from internet meme culture, where "lmao" is an abbreviation for "laugh my ass off."
In Cox's view, the message conveyed by these contents is obvious.
However, different witnesses gave completely different descriptions of Robinson's political leanings. An electrician who worked with him a few weeks ago said that Robinson was a shy colleague who rarely spoke unless approached, and "he never discussed political topics unless someone brought it up."
"But he definitely didn't like Trump or Charlie Kirk."
A high school classmate revealed that during the 2020 election, Robinson's entire family were "die-hard Trump supporters."
This classmate was very confused: "When I heard about the shooting, I completely couldn't understand what had changed."
MAGA Civil War?
From online posts, Robinson seems to be a member of the "Groyper" group. "Groyper" is a white supremacist movement organization led by another far-right agitator Nick Fuentes.
Fuentes often publicly confronts Kirk, encouraging followers to expose Kirk as a "fake conservative," and recently focused on the fact that Kirk insisted the Trump administration should disclose files related to the Epstein case.
Of course, Fuentes is now desperately trying to distance himself from the relationship between himself and Kirk in the MAGA faction's internal war.
Another far-right activist, Laura Loomer, is doing the same.
Loomer has been busy deleting recent tweets. She had criticized Kirk as a "con man" and "political opportunist" in these tweets, saying he often "uses sophistry" and "stabs Trump in the back," and wrote that she "no longer wants to hear Kirk claim to support Trump."
Photos of Robinson on social media
Currently, Robinson is detained in the Utah County Jail without bail.
He will be formally charged next Tuesday (16th), facing initial charges including aggravated murder, felony use of a firearm, and obstruction of justice.
These charges are state-level felonies, with "aggravated murder" carrying the death penalty.
It is currently unclear whether Robinson has hired a lawyer.
This daylight assassination remains far from over. It has once again plunged the American political arena into intense confrontation regarding political violence, making the already divided American political landscape even more polarized.
Actually, besides Trump, Kirk also had a close relationship with U.S. Vice President Vance.
The two met in 2017, and Kirk frequently publicly and privately supported Vance, including helping him raise funds, introducing him to the Trump family, assisting in forming a senatorial campaign team, ultimately leading to Vance becoming Trump's campaign partner and elected as vice president.
Kirk said in an interview in April that Vance would become "a great president."
After Kirk was shot, Vance immediately canceled his "9.11" memorial event schedule and went to visit Kirk's family. He personally transported Kirk's body on Air Force Two to Phoenix and helped carry it onto the plane.
The Right-Wing Gathering
Even though Charlie Kirk is deceased, he remains a controversial figure.
He is loved by a generation of young people gradually moving to the right, but is also criticized for his controversial and confrontational remarks.
The American magazine "The Nation" published an obituary refuting attempts to "gloss over" the legacy of this right-wing activist.
Writer Elizabeth Spears wrote an article titled "Charlie Kirk's Legacy Is Not Worth Mourning," describing Kirk as "a stubborn racist, transphobe, homophobe, and misogynist who often used Bible verses to cover up his prejudices, as there was no other way to pretend it was morally correct."
In 2018, Trump and Charlie Kirk at a forum.
Spears strongly criticized the so-called "glossing over" movement after Kirk's death, stating, "Writing an obituary starting with 'Joseph Goebbels was a brilliant marketer and the loving father of six children' is a choice."
"When we refuse to say bad things about the dead, it's because we empathize with the living." "In this regard, I feel sorry for Kirk's children. I don't know if Kirk was a good father, but even if he was, that doesn't mitigate the harm he caused to other people's children," Spears added.
On the other hand, Kirk's death has become a gathering of the global right wing.
Some people say that Kirk was the past, present, and future of the American conservative youth movement. His death has brought grief to the younger generation he introduced to politics, and others are determined to continue his mission.
In Washington, almost every young conservative staff member has had some connection with Kirk's youth organization "Turning Point USA."
Whether through university campus chapters or through its national or regional conferences, this formed a force of young conservatives, who now hope to consolidate his legacy in the upcoming midterm elections and beyond.
"I used to be passionate about this movement, and it was important, but now it's become personal." 19-year-old commentator Brelin Holihan said. He invited Kirk to his podcast when he was 11 years old.
"We have a martyr."
25-year-old activist Isabella DeLuca, who participated in the Capitol riot, said that Kirk's assassination "has awakened a mass of believers."
Kirk's death, a gunshot, has become the most jarring footnote to the dehumanization and normalization of violence in American politics, while the right wing's eagerness to crown the martyr's halo reflects the hottest and most dangerous color in the spectrum of American politics.
Where will this country's path of rationality and reconciliation lead?
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7549796090032275968/
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