Investigators probing for a motive behind Wednesday’s assassination of Charlie Kirk picked up a significant lead after speaking with a friend of the alleged shooter who claims to have seen the 22-year-old drift significantly to the far left in recent years.
A high school associate who played video games with Tyler Robinson, the suspected gunman, recalled him expressing anti-Trump sentiments during their last conversations. The individual, who spoke anonymously with the Guardian, said he and Robinson played online games together for a number of years.
During this time, Robinson informed him that the rest of his family held conservative views, leaving the former teenager feeling ostracized about his dislike for President Donald Trump.
The friend acknowledged that he was uncertain about Robinson’s more recent views; they lost touch after Robinson received a presidential scholarship to attend Utah State University, where he was enrolled for just one semester before dropping out.
Voting records reviewed by the outlet show Robinson is a registered independent voter while both of his parents are Republicans.
In a phone interview on Friday, the former friend described the suspected gunman as “pretty much left on everything” when it came to his political views. He was “the only member of his family that was pretty leftist,” the person recalled.
“The rest of his family was very hard Republican,” they added.
Around his sophomore year of high school, Robinson became sharply more partisan in his beliefs, going so far as to wage bitter debates with those who disagreed with him.
He would “always be ranting and arguing about them,” the former friend said in relation to his politics during the first Trump administration.
A public records database reviewed by the outlet shows that Robinson and his family live in Washington, Utah, a city that delivered 75% of its vote for Trump in the 2024 election.
Robinson first registered as a voter in July 2021 but is currently listed as inactive, and he did not declaring any political party at the time. Both of his parents are registered as active voters.
Kristin Schwiermann, 66, a neighbor of the family, described Robinson as “smart” and suggested she knew he had high standardized test scores in high school, where he received concurrent enrollment credit through Utah Tech University before graduating in 2021.
News that Robinson may have confessed to murdering Kirk “shocked the crap out of me,” she said.
“I didn’t think he would have done this,” Schwiermann added.
State and federal authorities are continuing to build a case against Robinson, collecting shoe prints and fingerprints from the roof where he is believed to have fired a single round from a common hunting rifle, killing Kirk as he spoke in front of several thousand students at Utah Valley University.
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Tyler Robinson was raised Mormon — and allegedly killed Charlie Kirk moments after influencer praised the church
Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson was raised a devout Mormon — yet fired his fatal shot at Kirk just moments after the conservative influencer had glowingly praised the Church of Latter-day Saints.
“I love how Mormons send missionaries around the world, I love how polite they are. … Half my team is Mormon,” Kirk, 31, said to huge cheers from the crowd at Utah Valley University moments before he was allegedly killed by the 22-year-old trade-school student.
“Mormons are great people. Let me just say, I’m an evangelical Christian, but I’m not one of those guys that hates on Mormons,” Kirk said.
Footage from Kirk’s final event at Utah Valley on Wednesday — posted on Instagram — shows him even bantering with a member of the Mormon faith in the crowd, referencing how he had “the white shirt and tie put on right there,” before going on to speak of his love for the church.
Kirk’s words came just minutes before he was shot and killed — allegedly by Robinson.
The accused killer “went to our church when he was younger,” neighbor Kristin Schwiermann, who knew Tyler and his parents, Matt and Amber, told The Post.
“I was a head custodian for 18 years in at Riverside Elementary he went to Pine View High School,” she said, adding that she knew Amber Robinson through the church and the school and was stunned by the news.
“I just know that [Tyler] carried himself nicely. He was very nice. He was smart. I hear he had a full-ride scholarship [to college]. … I was shocked that this was even him.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement in the wake of the tragic news but before the alleged killer had been identified as Mormon.
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The View Once Erroneously Claimed Kirk Palled With Nazis, Now Mourn
But The View’s niceties rang a little hollow. In July 2022, Goldberg erroneously claimed Kirk “invited” neo-Nazis into a TurningPoint USA event in Florida. Two days later, The View had to issue a formal on-air apology after Kirk’s organization threatened to file a defamation suit against them.
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