Utah Governor Says It’s Too Soon to be Sure of Motive on Kirk Shooting But Suspect Was on the Left

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Sunday that investigators are not yet ready to publicly identify a motive in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. However, he noted that the 22-year-old suspect held left-wing political views and harbored animosity toward Kirk. “Clearly a leftist ideology,” Cox told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” On CNN’s “State of the Union,” he added, “That information comes from the people around him, his family members and friends.”

Cox explained that Robinson is “not cooperating” with authorities and that those who knew him described a young man who had been radicalized through fringe online spaces. “Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on,” Cox said on NBC. “Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.”

The governor, a Republican who has urged Americans across the political spectrum to lower the intensity of their rhetoric after the killing, emphasized his stance on Sunday. “I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If this was a radicalized MAGA person, I’d be saying that as well.”

Still, Cox stressed in his media appearances that authorities are continuing to investigate what drove the attack on Kirk, a father of two and a close ally of President Donald Trump. Kirk was gunned down Wednesday while delivering one of his well-known campus speeches at Utah Valley University. Cox noted that further details may surface once the suspect, Tyler Robinson, is brought before a judge on Tuesday.

Cox also mentioned that Robinson’s partner is transgender, a detail that some commentators have tied to speculation about Kirk being singled out for his outspoken opposition to transgender ideology. Authorities, however, have not indicated whether that connection is significant. “The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female,” Cox said. “I can say that he has been incredibly cooperative, this partner has been very cooperative, had no idea that this was happening.”

Investigators have already interviewed Robinson’s family and executed a search warrant at their home in Washington, a city roughly 240 miles (390 kilometers) southwest of the site of the shooting at Utah Valley University.

According to state election records, Robinson is listed as a registered voter but not affiliated with any political party and currently marked inactive, meaning he has not voted in the last two general elections. His parents, by contrast, are registered Republicans.

Court filings show that the ammunition used in the attack carried engravings mocking Kirk, drawn from antifascist and meme-based online culture. One recovered shell casing bore the words, “Hey, fascist! Catch!”

Robinson spent his childhood in the St. George area of southern Utah, near Las Vegas and close to well-known parks like Zion and Bryce Canyon.

A spokesman for The Church of Latter-day Saints, Doug Andersen, confirmed that Robinson joined the Mormon faith when he was still very young.

Robinson has two younger brothers, and his parents have been married for about 25 years, according to posts on family social media pages. The family’s online presence shows a household that enjoyed vacations together, traveling to Disneyland, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Caribbean.

Like many residents of that region, they also engaged heavily in outdoor recreation—boating, fishing, ATV riding, zip-lining, and shooting. A photo from 2017 depicts the family at a military installation posing with rifles, including a smiling Robinson gripping a .50-caliber machine gun.

Academically, Robinson excelled in high school, consistently making the honor roll and scoring in the 99th percentile nationally on standardized exams. He earned a prestigious scholarship to Utah State University in 2021, with a video of his acceptance letter later shared online by relatives.

Despite that achievement, university officials confirmed that he only completed one semester there. He later transitioned to Dixie Technical College in St. George, where he is now listed as a third-year student in an electrical apprenticeship program.