The 22-year-old man suspected of assassinating Charlie Kirk is in a relationship with a transgender person, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Sunday.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Cox said Tyler Robinson, who is expected on Tuesday to be charged with last week’s murder of the far-right activist, lived with his transgender partner.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Robinson’s relationship was a motive behind the shooting, Cox said.
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“I can say that... this partner has been incredibly cooperative,” Cox told anchor Dana Bash. “Had no idea this was happening and is working with investigators right now.”
In another interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Cox said Robinson’s roommate “was shocked” upon learning of the shooting.
“The suspect has not been cooperating so far and so we’re getting all of this information from family members,” Cox said.
While the governor emphasized that he wants to be “careful” about assigning motive, Bash noted he had already claimed Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”
“That information comes from the people around him — his family and friends. That’s how we got the information,” Cox said, quickly adding: “Again, there’s so much more that we’re learning and so much more that we will learn.”
Earlier in the investigation, law enforcement officials had warned the public not to jump to conclusions after The Wall Street Journal published a report Thursday about “transgender ideology” engraved on cartridges recovered at the scene.
However, no further details were provided, and no evidence was forthcoming. The newspaper later followed that report with another stating that some officials are cautioning against reading into the initial bulletin.
Law enforcement described Robinson as a 22-year-old Utah resident. President Donald Trump announced Friday morning that a suspect has been taken into custody following the killing of Kirk, 31, at Utah Valley University.
Robinson was registered to vote but was not affiliated with a political party. Both Robinson’s parents are registered Republicans, according to public records. His father holds an active hunting license, while his mother’s appears to have lapsed.
On Friday, the governor said a family member of Robinson’s described him as “more political in recent years,” and that he had spoken about his dislike of Kirk in the days leading up to the shooting on Wednesday.
Cox acknowledged on Sunday that Kirk, a white nationalist, “said some very inflammatory things.”
“And in some corners of the web that’s all that people have heard,” he added.
Kirk had been talking to a crowd of hundreds of students about transgender issues and mass shootings at the time he was struck in the neck by a bullet.
“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience member asked Kirk during his event at Utah Valley University.
“Too many,” Kirk replied.
Transgender people have been responsible for only a tiny fraction of mass shootings. According to the Gun Violence Archive, just 0.11% of such incidents over the past decade involved transgender suspects.
For years, far-right figures have made baseless claims linking transgender people to violent crime, according to MediaMatters, a think tank that monitors misinformation. Almost none as prominent as Kirk, a radical conservative who eventually gained a seat at Trump’s table.
