It’s been a long week full of overzealous speculation about the motive behind Charlie Kirk’s assassination and his killer’s ideology.
But on Tuesday, we finally received a more substantial picture of the suspect, Tyler Robinson, and his actions.
Prosecutors in Utah released charging documents that don’t ascribe a specific motive but do feature a number of clues and shed light on Robinson’s politics.
Such acts of violence often feature suspects and perpetrators with sometimes conflicting sets of beliefs and characteristics that don’t necessarily fit neatly on the right-left political continuum, despite politicians’ and partisans’ attempts to blame the other side.
It’s still early, and the picture we’ve gotten so far comes from law enforcement. Much remains to play out in court.
But here’s what we’ve learned so far.
Allusions to ‘hate’
Prosecutors have declined to state what they believe motivated Robinson. But perhaps the most direct evidence is his alleged allusions to “hate.”
Text messages show Robinson’s roommate asking him why he did it.
“I had enough of his hatred,” Robinson allegedly responded. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
The charging documents say Robinson’s family also asked why he did it, and he “explained there is too much evil and the guy [Charlie Kirk] spreads too much hate.”
That evidence would seem to undercut theories that Robinson might have been motivated by far-right views. While some on the far-right have strongly opposed Kirk – you might have heard in recent days about “groypers” – they generally disliked him because they didn’t think he was far-right enough.
But the evidence so far doesn’t directly point to what specific form of alleged “hate” Robinson objected to.
More evidence that he leaned left
President Donald Trump and his allies leapt to say this was an attack by the radical left before we even had a suspect or hard evidence. Meanwhile, some commentators on the left responded to early clues by claiming Robinson was from the far-right. Those who knew Robinson initially gave conflicting and confusing accounts about his politics.
The fuller evidence we now have suggests Robinson held liberal views.
In addition to criticizing Kirk for allegedly spreading hate, the charging documents say Robinson’s mother “explained that over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to lean more to the left – becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”
The documents also say Robinson had “several” political discussions with family members, especially his father, and that the two of them “have very different political views.”
Robinson in the text messages allegedly described his father as “pretty diehard MAGA,” since Trump took office.
The charging documents don’t include the texts immediately before or after he allegedly said that, so it’s not clear the context in which he brought that up. But the limited evidence we have from his family suggests he was at least left-leaning and disagreed with his MAGA father.
Yet that limited evidence about his political leanings still doesn’t back up suggestions from the president and his allies that Robinson was part of the “radical left.”
It’s possible Robinson harbored more radical views that he didn’t share with his family, but the only specific issues highlighted in the evidence so far are support for gay and trans rights.
The role of politics around transgender identity
Initially, unverified tips were leaked to the public that claimed the ammunition featured engravings that included transgender “ideology.” (The bullets appear to feature no such thing.)
Later, we learned that Robinson’s roommate – with whom he was in a romantic relationship — is “a biological male who was transitioning genders,” according to what Robinson’s mother told investigators. The text messages show Robinson repeatedly referring to the roommate as “my love” and “love.”
Kirk had vehemently criticized transgender rights. At one point he said the country needed “a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor.”
Given all of that, it would be logical to deduce that the “hate” Robinson allegedly referenced could allude to Kirk’s outspoken criticism of transgender rights. But the documents don’t draw an explicit connection.
The bullet engravings
The engravings on the bullets remain a question mark.
While there was no apparent transgender “ideology” on the bullets, there are other references that could be read as Robinson expressing opposition to fascism. At the same time, those references could also allude to video game culture and online jokes rather than political motives.
The other engravings that have been spotlighted include one bullet reading, “Hey Facist! Catch!” and another reading, “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao ciao,” according to the charging documents.
Those first words, though, were followed by a series of arrows that appear to signal a maneuver in the video game Helldivers 2 – a game that many believe to be a satire of fascism.
“Bella Ciao” is an old Italian antifascist song, but it’s also one that has been celebrated by plenty of other causes and is popular in video game culture.
The words suggest Robinson was immersed in an often irony-soaked online culture where meanings can be confusing.
And even if the references were to video games, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t also reflect Robinson’s opposition to fascism.
Regardless, the text messages suggest Robinson might have been happy that people were flummoxed by his references.
“The fuckin messages are mostly a big meme,” Robinson allegedly texted his roommate.
According to the texts, he then alluded to another engraving that referenced the old “notices bulge” meme.
“… If I see ‘notices bulge uwu’ on fox new [sic] I might have a stroke,” Robinson allegedly added.
Notably, the charging documents imply that this exchange came before the earliest reports on the bullet engravings on Thursday. That suggests Robinson was anticipating how they would be received, rather than reacting to early coverage of them.
Still no evidence of a vast left-wing conspiracy
Republicans have speculated a lot in recent days that Robinson might not have acted alone – or that acts like his were influenced or funded by shadowy left-wing groups. Trump has previewed a crackdown on such groups, despite the lack of evidence connecting Robinson to any of them.
“It is a vast domestic terror movement,” said Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller.
“It is not organic,” Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri alleged Tuesday while referring to left-wing violence. “It is the offspring of a dark and clandestine system funded in part with our own tax dollars. … This system lurks behind every radical leftist movement in our nation today.”
But there’s no real evidence that Robinson’s actions were connected to any broader left-wing network, including in the charging documents.
The text messages suggest even Robinson’s roommate wasn’t aware of what he was doing.
And the messages also don’t signal Robinson’s involvement in any such left-wing group. If anything, they point to his immersion in online video game culture.