Utah Gov. Spencer Cox provided more details about the suspect in multiple interviews on Sept. 14.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said the suspected assassin of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk left behind a note, and confirmed reports that the suspect held left-wing political views.
“Clearly a leftist ideology,” Cox told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Cox said the information obtained about the viewpoints of suspect Tyler Robinson “comes from the people around him, his family members and friends.”
Cox also confirmed that the suspect may have left behind a note but said that those “are things that are still being processed for accuracy and verification and will be included in charging documents.”
The governor said the suspect’s partner is transgender, which some officials have pointed to as a sign that Robinson was targeting Kirk for his political views. Authorities have not publicly said whether it is relevant as they investigate Robinson’s motive.
Cox told CNN that Robinson’s roommate and “romantic partner” is “a male transitioning to female.”
“I can say that he has been incredibly cooperative, this partner has been very cooperative, had no idea that this was happening,” he said, referring to the roommate.
Cox also told NBC News that Robinson, 22, became more radical after he dropped out of Utah State University.
“It seemed to happen kind of after that—after he moved back to the southern part of Utah,” he told NBC News. “Clearly, there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep. You saw that on the casings … the memeification that is happening in our society today.”
Robinson, Cox told NBC, is not cooperating with authorities. However, they have obtained information from friends, acquaintances, and family members.
Last week, Cox said in a news conference that the suspect had engraved messages on bullets, including anti-fascist messages and one that appeared to make a trolling reference to the “furry” subculture. One message also appeared to be a reference to a move used in the video game “Helldivers 2.”
One of the bullets read, “Catch this, fascists.” Another included lyrics that appeared to make reference to an Italian song that was popularized during World War II in Italy that has since been used by some modern left-wing or progressive groups.
