The 22-year-old Utah man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk spoke just three words during his first court appearance on Tuesday, confirming his identity as “Tyler James Robinson” before a Utah judge set the contours of a capital case that prosecutors say they intend to pursue to the fullest extent of the law. Appearing by video from jail in a suicide-prevention smock, Robinson answered the routine name question and otherwise left the talking to lawyers as he was advised of seven felony counts, including aggravated murder, and a protective order was granted for Kirk’s widow, Erika. The brief hearing, conducted virtually in Utah County, came six days after Kirk was shot dead at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem.
Prosecutors told the court they will seek the death penalty, citing the public nature of the killing and the risk to others in a crowded campus setting where families and children were present. “Utah County intends to seek the death penalty in this case,” County Attorney Jeff Gray said as the charging documents were filed on Tuesday, a position later reiterated in media briefings that outlined the state’s theory of premeditation and danger to bystanders. The decision escalates a case that had already drawn national attention and set off debates over political violence after authorities described the incident as a sniper-style attack from a rooftop roughly 200 yards from Kirk’s lectern.
The charging document details seven counts: aggravated murder; felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury; a violent offense in the presence of a child; two counts of obstructing justice; and two counts of witness tampering tied to alleged efforts to delete messages and direct an intimate partner not to cooperate. Gray’s office also sought and obtained a no-contact order barring Robinson from contacting Erika Kirk, with the judge noting that standard conditions would be supplemented by the protective order given the intense public interest and the victim’s prominent role in the proceedings. Robinson remains jailed without bail.
Investigators say Robinson fired a bolt-action rifle from the roof of a nearby academic building as Kirk, 31, took questions from students, striking him once in the neck and triggering a frantic lockdown across the central Orem campus. The fatal shot, captured in multiple videos that spread rapidly across social media, set off an intensive manhunt that ended roughly 33 hours later when relatives, having recognized images disseminated by authorities, persuaded Robinson to surrender to local deputies in Washington County, some 240 miles to the southwest. Prosecutors say the weapon was abandoned near the scene; the state has described the shot’s line of sight and the distance in filings that underscore their premeditation claim.