Tyler Robinson, 22, has been formally charged with aggravated murder for the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA and Trump ally, was killed by a single rifle shot from a rooftop sniper’s nest while speaking at an event with 3 000 attendees at Utah Valley University in Orem.Robinson, an electrical apprenticeship student, initially escaped but was arrested at his parents’house after family members alerted authorities.

Utah prosecutors on Tuesday formally charged the suspect in conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination with aggravated murder and intend to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of firing the single rifle shot from a rooftop sniper’s nest that pierced Kirk’s neck last Wednesday on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, about 65 km south of Salt Lake City.

Utah County District Attorney Jeffrey Gray said at a press conference that his office had filed seven counts against Robinson in all, including obstruction of justice for disposing of evidence and witness tampering for directly his roommate to delete texts.

Gray said he had made the decision to seek the death penalty “independently, based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime.”

The killing, captured in graphic video clips that went viral on the internet, sparked denunciations of political violence across the ideological spectrum but also unleashed a wave of partisan blame-casting and concerns that Kirk’s murder might beget more bloodshed.

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Authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the killing, though Kirk’s wife and other supporters were quick to cast him as a martyr for their cause.

Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder and head of the conservative student movement Turning Point USA and a key ally of US President Donald Trump, was speaking at an event attended by 3 000 people when he was gunned down.

The suspect, a third-year student of an electrical apprenticeship at a state technical college, initially escaped in the pandemonium following the shooting.

Robinson was scheduled to appear via video feed from jail on Tuesday afternoon in Utah County Justice Court in Provo.

Cox said the state would be inclined to seek the death penalty should Robinson be convicted, but that prosecutors would consider the wishes of Kirk’s family before making that decision.