The well-known activist came to Utah Valley University to engage students in discussions. A gunman kills him, leading to a rush of chaos and a 33-hour manhunt.
Sestie Dale arrived at her alma mater at Utah Valley University just before noon and wafted excitedly to see one of the online heroes, Charlie Kirk.
It was a sunny 80 degree day on September 10th. The amphitheater in front of Sorensen’s student centre was caught up in anticipation. College students mix with high school students and their families, with some wearing red “American great” caps. Over 3,000 total. On one corner, the protesters held signs or chanted insults that denounced Kirk’s controversial views.
Teasdale texted his brother, where he met him, stabbing him through the crowd and squeezing him towards the canopy where Kirk was talking.
Right after noon, Kirk arrived at the SUV gag. Former Utah Assemblyman Phil Lyman was there to say hello. Kirk was helping Lyman as he planned to run for the governor of Utah a few years ago.
They waved. Kirk commented on the weather.
“Beautiful,” Lyman recalled what Kirk said. “I love Utah!”
Standing nearby, 20-year-old Riley Beasley waited weeks for this moment.
As a junior at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and vice-chairman of the Utah Republican League, Beasley considered Kirk a hero. When I heard he was talking at nearby Utah Valley University, he quickly signed up to volunteer.
After introducing herself, Beasley took a selfie with Kirk. Among them, students Beaming. Kirk squints his eyes at the sun.
“He made us all feel very welcome and worthy,” Beasley said.
After throwing some Maga hats into the crowd, Kirk sat under the canopy and asked questions.
At about the same time, a tall college student carrying a black backpack was climbing the stairs at a nearby Losee Center., A four-storey concrete building that houses a student welcome centre and other facilities.
He wore black wraparound sunglasses, blue jeans, Converse sneakers, and a black long-sleeved shirt decorated with American flags and flying eagles.
The man found his way to the roof, snuggled into the extended position and peered into Kirk’s scope, which was less than 150 yards.
Authorities identified the man on the roof as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington County, Utah, September 12. They say he pulled the trigger of a Moser .30-06 bolt action rifle and fired a single bullet that shook Kirk’s neck, killing him.
The announcement was the culmination of a 33-hour manhunt for the assassins of popular conservative activists who are shaking the country with rhetoric of fear and rage. Robinson was arrested at his Washington County home on Sept. 11 at around 10pm, FBI director Kash Patel said at a press conference.
The agency had more than 7,000 leads by the time Robinson was arrested. By the next morning, that number had grown to 11,000.
“The suspect was arrested at a historic time,” he said. “This would not have been possible without you and your masses.”
For those at the amphitheater earlier that week, the echo of rifle shots shattered the celebration day of political debate, just as the Utah governor witnessed in real time the blood and horror left behind by what he called a “political assassination” and what was left of the bullet.
Gunshot. Then blood.
Authorities say Robinson arrived in the area at 8:29am on the day of the gray dodge charger shooting. He wore brightly colored shorts, a black hat with white logos and brightly colored shoes, and later transformed into jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt.
Charging documents obtained by USA Today show that surveillance cameras allegedly walked Robinson from the north side of campus to Utah Valley University. At 12:02pm he entered Losee Center and after 13 minutes he walked up the stairs to the common area adjacent to the centre.
Documents say that Robinson later climbed over a short wall and onto the roof. At 12:22pm he extended into a depressing position near the edge of the roof. He was heading west – towards Kirk.
At the Plaza, Cestisdale was nearby after Kirk threw his hat into the crowd. Afterwards, I settled down in my seat under the canopy and asked questions. Teasdale was wedge-snared in a crowd of people, and I’m glad that Kirk has a clear view of it.
Kirk began asking questions. First is the church of Latter-day Saints, the dominant religion in Utah, and then another religion by liberal Tiktok users involved in transgender people and gun violence. Dozens of people lined up and asked more questions.
after that: Bang!
Kirk fell to his left in his chair. Blood flowed from the wound on his neck. Someone cried out, “Drop!”
Teasdale, 24, had glimpsed at the moment, but the booming round circles echoed through his ears. He leaned down with the rest of the crowd and texted his brother Tyler, who had just arrived at the event.
“Gunshots,” he texted.
“What??Not there,” replied Tyler.
The crowd crouched down – then ran out of the canopy.
“They started to panic,” Seth Teedale said. “They went down the ground and leapt over and pushed past people.”
Fearing a massive amount of fire, he walked through the fountain to the door of an adjacent building, leaving behind a sea of spilled wallets and cans of discarded drinks.
Tyler Teedale headed for the building. Inside, hundreds of people leaned in and wept together.
“It was a ton of confusion,” he said.
“I’m glad you didn’t shoot!”
Beasley was in the middle of the crowd about 10 yards from Kirk when the round sound of a rifle cracked in the air.
He watched the crowd run in panic and saw Kirk’s limp body left. He stayed in his place, as if his feet were locked in the grass, but he still couldn’t handle the harsh reality of the moment.
He and other volunteers then helped those who were trampled by the crowds by wheelchairs and others from the square.
“I didn’t think it was a gunshot at first,” he said.
Nearby, Natalie Helly was coming to the event with her daughter, Enya, 22. He’s been listening to Kirk on podcasts since his teens. Helly praised him: his faithfulness to Christianity, his dull, provocative style.
They had arrived at the event separately. Natalie, 48, lined up to ask questions, but Enya got closer to the canopy and became muscular.
When the shot rang, Natalie tried to reach her daughter, but a panicked runner brawl kicked her out to the side gate. Enya, near Kirk, saw a bullet thrust into her neck. She later told her mother that she was surprised by the size of the hole she had opened and the amount of blood she erupted from it.
After a few minutes of chaotic moments without cell phone service, the mother and daughter finally reunited next to the square.
“She kept saying, ‘I’m so happy you didn’t shoot me!”,” Helly said. “She was terrifying.”
“I thought I was going to film the shooter.”
A few minutes before Kirk began asking questions, Lyman left the square and wandered to the second floor of the adjacent Sorensen Student Center, looking closely at the crowd. He marveled at the scene below from the two-storey balcony, then went back downstairs to meet friends.
When the shot rang, he just pushed the first set of glass doors.
It sounded like it came from above and behind him, Lyman recalled. One other passerby suggested it sounded like a .22 caliber pistol. No, Lyman told him, like a hunting rifle, perhaps .30-06.
He pulled out his phone and began shooting, pointing the lens of his phone’s camera towards the proximity below. Students scream and run in all directions, away from the canopy and the Kirk.
“I thought I was going to film the shooter,” Lyman said.
The hunt begins
However, the archer was not in the crowd.
In surveillance video released by authorities, Robinson allegedly fired a single shot and then darted across the roof. He then ran across Campus Drive to a wooden stand adjacent to a luxury neighbourhood just north of campus.
Investigators said they later found the weapon in a wooden stand wrapped in a towel.
The sculpture on the bullet caught the attention of the agent.
According to Utah Governor Spencer Cox, the fired casing was “What is this?” reference to internet memes related to animated videos and furry cultures that are frequently repeated by video game streamers.
One of the underdeveloped casings is “Oh Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Ciao, Ciao” – lyrics to the lyrics of anti-fascist Italian resistance during World War II. Another reading: “Hey fascist! Catch!”
Within 16 minutes of the shooting, the first FBI agents arrived at the scene along with senior law enforcement officials. The archer hunt continued.
Agents detained two suspects, including the scene of the crime, but later released them and released their involvement.
On the night of September 11th, authorities released a video of the suspect jumping across the roof and jumping off the roof in hopes of a lead. A few hours later, around 10pm, they took Robinson into custody.
Cox told reporters that Robinson’s family contacted a family friend and then told authorities that Robinson “confessed to them or implied that he committed the incident.”
The family told investigators that Robinson has become more political in recent years, and mentioned Kirk at a recent dinner, discussing “why they didn’t like him?” Cox said.
The roommate reportedly showed a discrepancy post to investigators believed to have been made by suspects discussing the rifle and sculpture message about the bullet casing. Discord, an online chat app, will issue a statement disputing some details outlined by the authorities.
Robinson was being held at the Utah County Jail. He was arrested on felony charges of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm and obstructing justice in Utah County Courthouse, according to court records obtained by USA Today.
Cox said he couldn’t speak to the shooter’s motives.
“I hope he will receive the death penalty,” Trump told Fox News. “What he did – Charlie Kirk was the best person.”
Instant watershed
Since filming, both Teasdale brothers have had a hard time sleeping.
Their biggest concern is that horrifying events mean to the nation.
Tyler Teedale said the shootings were the latest in a recent string of political violence affecting both parties, addressing “how things have turned into divisiveness.”
“We were so insensitive that we feel so wrong,” he said.
Seth Teasdale said he spent the night after reading “Wild Claims and Political Takes” on social media after the shooting. He said he thinks it would make the conservative movement stronger.
He doesn’t know if it can deepen division and blow away violence, or if it serves as a turning point for peace. He said he will be bothered in the near future.
“I’ve been filled with the weight of it,” he said.
Announcing Robinson’s arrest in a meeting with reporters, Cox compared the current moment of political violence to the country’s witnessing civil rights turmoil in the 1960s and attacks from leaders such as President John F. Kennedy.
Cox has long defended courtesy in public discourse and has described him as an outspoken critic of political polarization, but said Kirk’s murder could serve as a turning point.
“We can return violence with violence, we can return hate with hatred,” he said. “At some point we have to find an off-ramp, or it would be a lot worse.”
Cox appealed to the youth of his state and people across the country, those who loved Kirk and those who hated him. Young adults like everyone who gathered to see Kirk on a sunny day. The governor said there was a chance to build a very different culture. With a single rifle shot crack, that dream remains doubtful.
Contribution: Nick Pensenstadler
