Utah prosecutors seek death penalty for Kirk's alleged killer

WashingtonAs promised by Utah's Republican Governor Spencer Cox, on the same day Charlie Kirk was fatally shot in the neck, the Utah Attorney General's Office formally requested the death penalty for the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson. The 22-year-old faces a total of seven charges that have been unveiled just a week after he pulled the trigger while Kirk was giving an outdoor talk on the Utah Valley University campus. The scene, captured on attendees' cellphones, flooded the internet and served as justification for Trump supporters for a witch hunt against the left and the Democratic Party.

Among the charges mentioned in a press conference on Tuesday by Utah State Attorney Jeff Gray are: aggravated murder, unlawful discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. According to documents filed by the Prosecutor's Office, Robinson left traces of his DNA on the trigger of the rifle used in the shooting.

He is also accused of encouraging his cohabitant to delete incriminating messages he had sent and to not speak to authorities. The witness in question was a transgender person—the prosecutor has defined as a "biological male who was undergoing gender transition"—to whom Robinson confessed to the crime shortly before turning himself in to authorities, after his father and a friend convinced him to do so. It was the father who, after seeing the images released by the FBI in an attempt to capture the young man, recognized his son and betrayed him. Investigators also found a note under the boy's keyboard in which he confessed to planning to kill Kirk.

Robinson is expected to make his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon via videoconference. The individual is being held in the Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork.

As the Attorney General's Office formalized charges against Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed new details about the investigation in a heated congressional session that ended in a shouting match with Democratic Senator Cory Booker. Patel said they were looking into whether there were other people involved in the crime—this had initially been ruled out—or whether the other members of the internet chat room knew anything. In the harassment campaign against the left, Patel also said they were looking into whether there were any "left-wing" organizations that were involved in the plans or that had collaborated.