{"id":229696,"date":"2025-09-15T21:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/229696\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T21:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:30:17","slug":"dna-links-suspect-to-kirk-killing-fbis-patel-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/229696\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA links suspect to Kirk killing, FBI’s Patel says"},"content":{"rendered":"

OREM, Utah (AP) \u2014 DNA on a towel wrapped around a rifle found near where conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> was assassinated matched that of the 22-year-old accused in the killing, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Investigators also have used DNA evidence to link the suspect, Tyler Robinson, with a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop where the fatal shot<\/a> was fired, Patel said Monday on the Fox News show \u201cFox & Friends.\u201d <\/p>\n

Authorities in Utah are preparing to file capital murder charges against Robinson as early as Tuesday in the killing of Kirk, a dominant figure in conservative politics who became a confidant of President Donald Trump<\/a> after founding Arizona-based Turning Point USA, one of the nation\u2019s largest political organizations<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Kirk, who brought young, conservative evangelical Christians into politics, was shot Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University during one of his many campus stops. The shooting raised fears about increasing political violence in a deeply polarized United States<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Officials have said Robinson carried a hatred for Kirk and ascribed to a \u201cleftist ideology\u201d that had grown in recent years. Robinson\u2019s family and friends said he spent large amounts of time scrolling the \u201cdark corners of the internet,\u201d Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said<\/a> Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Supporters<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Crime<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Patel told Fox that Robinson had written in a note before the shooting that he had an opportunity to take out Kirk and was going to do it. Investigators were able to recover the note\u2019s contents after it had been destroyed, the FBI director said, paraphrasing from the note without revealing more details.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Cox said Robinson\u2019s romantic partner was transgender, but authorities did not know yet whether that the suspect targeted Kirk for his anti-transgender views.<\/p>\n

Utah\u2019s department of public safety chief said Monday that Robinson\u2019s partner has been cooperative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a romantic, personal relationship there. We are still investigating whether that individual had any involvement,\u201d commissioner Beau Mason told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that Tyler Robinson acted by himself during this shooting,\u201d said Mason, who added that investigators are looking at whether anyone else knew of his plans beforehand.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Robinson has not been cooperating with law enforcement since being jailed for suspicion of aggravated murder. They say that he may have been \u201cradicalized\u201d online and that ammunition found in the gun used to kill Kirk included anti-fascist and meme-culture engravings. Court records show that one bullet casing had the message, \u201cHey, fascist! Catch!\u201d <\/p>\n

Robinson was arrested late Thursday near where he grew up around St. George, in the southwestern corner of Utah between Las Vegas and Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. It\u2019s unclear whether he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and his family has declined to comment to the AP.<\/p>\n

Tributes to Kirk continue across the country. A line of mourners wrapped around the Kennedy Center in Washington for a vigil Sunday, and there were moments of silence at several professional sporting events.<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance, who counted Kirk as a close friend<\/a>, served as a substitute host Monday on \u201cThe Charlie Kirk Show\u201d<\/a> on Rumble, a streaming platform.<\/p>\n

Vance spoke about how Kirk\u2019s widow, Erika Kirk, told him her husband never raised his voice to her and was never \u201ccross or mean-spirited to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI took from that moment that I needed to be a better husband and I needed to be a better father,\u201d the vice president said. \u201cThat is the way I\u2019m going to honor my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OREM, Utah (AP) \u2014 DNA on a towel wrapped around a rifle found near where conservative activist Charlie…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":229697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[3881,5643,119587,45326,11029,19719,1226,69,120792,57,4222,2066,43497,50,80,3677,100102,120674,51507,61,67,132,68,436,424,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-229696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-assassination-of-charlie-kirk","12":"tag-assassinations","13":"tag-az-state-wire","14":"tag-charlie-kirk","15":"tag-conservatism","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-erika-kirk","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-gun-violence","20":"tag-jd-vance","21":"tag-kash-patel","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-shootings","25":"tag-spencer-cox","26":"tag-tyler-robinson","27":"tag-u-s-federal-bureau-of-investigation","28":"tag-u-s-news","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-ut-state-wire","33":"tag-utah","34":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115210448125151818","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}