Transcription
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. At today's press conference, we will hear from Governor Cox, FBI Director Cash Patel, and Sheriff Mike Smith. We also have with us Utah DPS Commissioner Bo Mason, Lieutenant Governor Dedra Henderson, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert BS, and local and federal law enforcement partners. Following the remarks today, Governor Cox, Director Patel, and Commissioner Mason will take questions. Thank you.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We got him. On the evening of September 11th, a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff's Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident. This information was relayed to the Utah County Sheriff's Office and scene investigators at Utah Valley University. This information was also conveyed to the FBI.
Investigators reviewed additional video footage from UVU surveillance and identified Robinson arriving on UVU campus in a gray Dodge Challenger at approximately 8:29 a.m. on September 10th in which he is observed on video in a plain maroon t-shirt, light colored shorts, a black hat with a white logo, and light colored shoes. When encountered in person by investigators in Washington County on September 12th in the early morning hours, Robinson was observed in consistent clothing with those surveillance images.
Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years. The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10th. And in the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn't like him and the viewpoints that he had. The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate. The family member also confirmed Robinson had a gray Dodge Challenger.
Investigators identified an individual as the roommate of Robinson. Investigators interviewed that roommate, who stated that his roommate, referring to Robinson, made a joke on Discord. Investigators asked if he would show them the messages on Discord. He opened it and showed several messages to investigators and allowed investigators to take photos of the screen as each message was shown by Robinson's roommate. These photos consisted of various messages, including content of messages between the phone contact name Tyler with an emoji icon and Robinson's roommate's device. The content of these messages included messages affiliated with the contact Tyler stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush, messages related to a to visually watching the area where a rifle was left, and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel. The messages also refer to engraving bullets and a mention of a scope and the rifle being unique. Messages from the contact Tyler also mentioned that he had changed outfits.
I know there has been speculation as well as to uh the the writing on those casings, those those uh those bullet casings. And uh I believe we have that as well and I will I will share that with you now. So the area north of Campus Drive Road where the suspect crossed over, you saw some of that in the video that we released last night consists of a grassy area with trees on the edge of the UVU campus. Investigators discovered a bolt-action rifle wrapped in a dark colored towel. The rifle was determined to be a Mouser model 98 300 6 caliber 306 caliber bolt-action rifle. The rifle had a scope mounted on top of it. Investigators noted inscriptions that had been engraved on casings found with the rifle. Inscriptions on a fired casing read notices bulges capital O. What's this question mark? Inscriptions on the three unfired casings read, "Hey, fascist," exclamation point, "Catch exclamation point." Up arrow symbol, right arrow, and uh symbol, and three down arrow symbols. A second unfired casing read, "O Bella, Bellachow, Bellachchow, Chow, Chow." And a third unfired casing read, "If you read this, you are gay." L M AO.
We are indebted to law enforcement uh across the state who has worked seamlessly together, local law enforcement, state law enforcement, and our federal partners with the uh with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We're grateful for everyone who worked together in uh in in such a short amount of time to uh to find this person and to uh and to bring justice. I want to thank the public who has been so engaged reviewing uh reviewing videos, re helping us with uh sending in tips and uh helping us get to this point. I want to thank uh the uh the family members of Tyler Robinson who did the right thing in this case and were able to uh to bring him into uh to law enforcement as well. I especially want to thank the family of Charlie Kirk, uh Erica, um Charlie's parents, his children. I want us to be thinking of them as we bring justice in this case. Um they will be involved in that justice. Uh we will be working very closely with them as we move through this process as well. This is a a very sad day for again for our country. uh a terrible day for the state of Utah, but I'm grateful that at this moment we have an opportunity to bring closure to this very dark chapter in our nation's history. With that, I will now turn the uh turn the microphone over to the director of the FBI, Cash Patel.
Thank you, Governor. This is what happens when you let good cops be cops. The FBI and our partners are proud to stand here today together to bring justice to the family of Charlie Kirk and honor his memory. I want to express my deep gratitude to President Trump, the Vice President, and the entire White House who have been so incredibly supportive with both resources and just personally to the FBI as a team. They had our backs the entire way. And I just want to express my gratitude for giving us the resources we need to operate in this space to bring this sort of justice at this sort of speed. In 33 hours, we have made historic progress for Charlie. Governor Cox, our partnership has been absolutely incredible these last few days. Our partnership will endure. Your state and local partners, your sheriffs, your DPS community has been unbelievably impressive in the hardest of times. And a case like this cannot be solved, cannot be brought without partnering with your state and local authorities. The FBI has a certain role to play and we will play that role. Um, and we will lead out for the federal government. But Governor Cox, we are so grateful for your state partnership that led out on this investigation.
A little bit of the timeline. Charlie was shot at 12:23 p.m. on Wednesday. The first FBI agents on arrived on scene in 16 minutes with chiefs of police at 12:39 and secured the scene. The FBI immediately launched fixedwing assets. We utilize these assets to transport personnel, specialty technicians, hostage rescue teams. We also utilize these assets to go back and forth from the east coast and here in Utah to transport forensic evidence and other evidence that will be analyzed and is being analyzed at our FBI laboratories in Quantico and other laboratories, including the ATF. At my direction, the FBI released the first set of FBI photos of the suspect at 10 a.m. local time on 911. Then shortly thereafter, the FBI reward of $100,000 was released at 10:45 a.m. local. Myself and Deputy Director Bonino arrived on the scene at approximately 5:30 p.m. on 911. The governor led a press conference last night at approximately 8:00 p.m. where at my direction, the FBI released a never-before-seen video of the suspect. We also released new images to the public of the suspect. And just last night, the suspect was taken into custody at 10 p.m. local time. In less than 36 hours, 33 to be precise, thanks to the full weight of the federal government and leading out with the partners here in the state of Utah and Governor Cox, the suspect was apprehended in historic time period. And I want to highlight what Governor Cox said. This would not have been possible without you, the media, and you, the public. That's why we went so public, so fast, and we're so transparent, and we're committed to that transparency.
The crime scene, just a little bit there, it is a large crime scene. State and local authorities along with federal authorities process that crime scene quickly. And I even had the um ability to walk through that crime scene and walk through the steps the suspect took to learn more about what was needed and what resources we needed to bear to create a full picture for the FBI and leadership back in Washington. Furthermore, thankfully to state and local partners, forensic evidence has been seized and continues to be garnered. Forensic evidence has already been evaluated at FBI laboratories in Quantico and state and local authorities here. We will continue to process evidence as we see it, as we collect it, and we will continue to deliver to Governor Cox and his team. Last night, we had a total of approximately 7,000 interviews, excuse me, 7,000 leads. As of this morning, thanks to your great work, we have over 11,000 leads that were called in to the FBI, and we are running out every single lead that we can. Every one of those leads will be run out. The arrest is a testament to the dedication of good law enforcement being great and partnerships in law enforcement, which I've tried to highlight as my tenure as the director of the FBI. There is no better relationship for law enforcement than the FBI to partner with state and local authorities. And you've seen it here in these last few days. The FBI Salt Lake Field Office along with our offices in LA, Phoenix, Denver, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, our headquarters component in Quantico all participate in the FBI. I want to express my deep gratitude to the employees of the FBI, the men and women, the evidence response team tacticians, the special operators, the agents, the support staff. You have done monumental work in historic time when the public who had a right to demand such an expeditious solving of an investigation. The FBI answered that call diligently, critically important to our nation, and we delivered. And I'm proud to be their leader, and I'm proud to be the director of the FBI. This is a very much an ongoing investigation, as the governor said, and we will continue to work with state and local authorities uh to develop the investigation, to provide them the evidence they need for their ongoing prosecutions. and we will be here to answer every call they absolutely have as long as it takes for as long as we need to find and apprehend whoever suspects were involved in this crime. Lastly, to my friend Charlie Kirk, rest now, brother. We have the watch and I'll see you in Valhalla. Thank you and good morning.
I would just like to take a few minutes as as the sheriff to express my gratitude for everybody who has played a part in this investigation. As you know, it's been a vast a complicated and a very very fast-paced investigation. You're looking at people standing up here who are running on if they got an hour's sleep in the last couple days, they're probably lucky. Um, it has been very taxing. It has been so impressive speaking on behalf of the local law enforcement to see the cooperation that we have seen in this type of case. uh across the state, sheriffs, chiefs, um our our state partners have stepped up and have come to the call on anything that we needed. Uh our county chiefs have been phenomenal. Our Utah County Attorney, Jeff Gray, who's standing up here with us, has been phenomenal in leading us through this investigation. I would like to thank the federal government for for their resource resources, their assets. Our local team here, our FBI team has been extraordinary in helping us work through this and bring this person to justice. Most of all, I would like to thank the public and specifically I would like to thank the public who turned to prayers and who turned to positiveness for us. I would like to thank them on behalf of the law enforcement community because we needed those prayers. That's what we needed to get through this. We needed your support and you gave it to us. We needed your patience and you gave it to us. And I would like to thank you for the Kirk family because that's what they need is your support and your prayers and that will get us through all of this. So, thank you everybody for everybody that have stepped up. We've had such a phenomenal response to this. Thank you. Thank you.
I also want to give a special thanks to the attorney general in the department of justice. Their unwavering support and their commitment to justice is shown true here. And without A.G. Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch and the resources they brought to bear, we would not have been able to complete our mission. And I just want to say special thanks. It's an honor to be a part of the Department of Justice. Thank you again uh to our incredible law enforcement team who has worked so hard. Um Sheriff, I got a solid 90 minutes last night, so I'm probably the most well-rested person up here. Uh ladies and gentlemen, I uh I get the microphone. So, uh I hope you'll permit me a moment just to share a few more thoughts about where we are and and how we got here and and uh and and maybe a little bit of where we go from here. Um, I I don't want to get too preachy, but I think it's important that we with eyes wide open understand what what's happening in our our country today. I' I've heard I've heard people say, "Well, why are we why are we so invested in this? There's violence happening all across our country and violence is tragic everywhere and every life taken is is a child of God um who deserves our love and respect and dignity. This is uh this is certainly about the uh the tragic death assassination political assassination of of Charlie Kirk. Um, but it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is is it is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been, and uh and who we could be in better times. Political violence is different than any other type of violence for for lots of different reasons. one because in the very act that Charlie championed of expression, that freedom of expression that is enshrined in our founding documents in in having his life taken in that very act makes it more difficult for people to feel like they can share their ideas, that they can speak freely. We will never be able to solve all the other problems including the violence problems that people are are worried about if we can't have a clash of ideas safely and securely even especially especially those ideas with which you disagree. That's why this matters so much.
Over the last 48 hours, I have been as angry as I have ever been, as sad as I have ever been. And um it was uh as as as anger pushed me to the brink, it was actually Charlie's words that pulled me back. I'd like to share some of those. And specifically right now, if I could, I I need to talk to the young people in our state, in my state, and and all across the country. As President Trump reminded me, he said, "You know who who really loved Charlie? The youths." He's right. Um, young people love Charlie and young people hated Charlie. And Charlie went into those places anyway. And these are the words that have helped me. Charlie said, "When people stop talking, that's when you get violence." He said, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive. Welcome without judgment, love without condition, forgive without limit." He said, 'Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much. A few months ago, I referenced this last night, Charlie posted to social media, "When things are moving very fast and people are losing their minds, it's important to stay grounded. Turn off your phone, read scripture, spend time with friends, and remember, internet fury is not real life. It's going to be okay." He again said, "When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to commit violence." He said, "What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable agreement. Being able to have reasonable agreement where violence is not an option."
Now again to my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option. But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path. Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now. Not by pretending differences don't matter, but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations. I I think we need more moral clarity right now. I hear all the time that words are violence. Words are not violence. Violence is violence. And there is one person responsible for what happened here and that person is now in custody and will be charged soon and will be held accountable. And and yet all of us have an opportunity right now to do something different. I I want to thank my fellow Utons. Uh you know, this bad stuff happens. Um and uh for for 33 hours, I was I was praying that uh that um if this had to happen here that it wouldn't be one of us. that somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country. Sadly, that that uh that prayer was not answered the way uh I had hoped for just because I thought it would make it easier on us if we could just say, "Hey, we don't do that here." Um and indeed, Utah is a special place. We lead the nation in charitable giving. We lead the nation in service every year. Um, but it did happen here and and it it was one of us. But I I want you to look at how Utons reacted the last two nights. There was no rioting. There was no looting. There were no cars set on fire. There was no violence. There were there were vigils and prayers and people coming together to share the humanity and and that ladies and gentlemen I believe is the answer to this. We can return violence with violent violence. We can return hate with hate. And that's the problem with meta with political violence is it metastasizes because we can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point we have to find an off-ramp or it's going to get much much worse. But see, these are choices that we can make. History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country. But every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us. We get to make decisions. We have our agency. And I desperately call on every American, Republican, Democrat, liberal, progressive, conservative, MAGA, all of us to please, please, please follow what Charlie taught me. I I'll just I'll just conclude with uh with words I share often from a friend, an author, Yvall Levin, who was asked if he was optimistic about our country. And uh he said I'm not optimistic. He said I hate optimism. Ah that sounds bad. Uh but but he said he said optimism is a vice. It's this idea that good things are just going to happen. And he said in the history of the world good things have never just happened. He says I'm not optimistic but I am hopeful. And hope is the virtue that sits between the vices of optimism and pessimism. Hope is the idea that good things are going to happen because we can make them so. I still believe in our country and I know Charlie Kirk believed in our country. I still believe that there is more good among us than evil and I still believe that we can change the course of history. I'm hopeful because Americans can make it. So, ladies and gentlemen, we're happy to answer any questions you might have.
Whether the suspect is speaking with authorities, um, we I cannot speak to that right now. Governor, how do you interpret? Well, I will leave that up to you to interpret what those engravings mean. Um I I think the uh the clearest one that says catch fascist. I there's not. And by the way, that's like catch like a ball, catch this. Um that's uh I think that that speaks for itself. Govern there there's nothing more that we can share at this time. Discord about the gun. Do you anticipate any more arrests? Uh we do not at this time have any information that would lead to any additional arrests. Yes, but the investigation is ongoing. Uh yes. So right now Mr. Robinson has been booked into the Utah County Jail. Uh you you heard the president this morning uh report that uh that he was taken into custody that uh that his family and uh and a friend um helped to uh to deliver him in to the the into custody of law enforcement in Washington County. For those of you that don't know where Washington County is, it is the southern most southwestern most part of the state of Utah. It's about a 3 and a half to four hour drive from here um where we are right now. And uh that's uh that's where where he lived and where he uh they they turned him in. Please go here. I I I can't share any more than what I've already shared. Yeah. So um we we how we obtained the gun. The gun was found was found here. Uh so so I I don't have much more details um on that. Um we we do know that uh that that he drove we had his car here um on on campus and then uh and then we had his car going going south back to back to the St. George. Why? It's actually the city of Washington in uh in Washington County. Is he talking with authorities? I'm sorry. We don't have any information that would lead us to believe that. Yes. In fact, it's already it was just released. Yes. and did he discuss a motive? We um I I can't I can't answer that right now. Thank you.
Do you feel this is uh I I absolutely believe that this is a watershed in American history. Yes. Um the question is what kind of watershed and that that chapter remains to be written. Is this the end of a dark chapter in our history or the beginning of a darker chapter in our history? We we've look I I mean if if you look at true political assassinations in this country of of someone of this stature um this feels a lot like the late 60s um and and having one so gruesomely displayed uh on camera in all of our hands and in all of our pockets. We are not wired as human beings biologically uh historically we have not evolved uh in a way that um we are capable of processing those types of violent imagery. And by the way, we've seen another one with a gruesome stabbing very recently that went viral. Um this is not good for us. It is not good to consume. Um, social media is a cancer on our society right now and I would encourage again I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community. Uh, there are pe that is happening and it's happening organically right now. Had a friend in a in a small city in Utah who said, "We're we're we're getting together. The Republicans and Democrats in my little town are getting together to have a discussion tonight uh last night um just to find a way to to to find their better angels. So, so yes, this this could be I I mean you you know again you have to go back to JFK to to have seen a video live of something like this happening. Um I wasn't born until 1975, but but I know that things were really dark in in the late '60s. Sorry to some of you. I know some of you were there. Uh but but th this is the this is our moment. Um do we escalate or do do we find an off-ramp? And uh again, it's a choice. It's a choice and every one of us gets to make that choice. Two more questions. Two more questions right here. Could we clarify that the release of those enhanced images at 8 p.m. the director gave us led to the arrest at 10 p.m. Is there a direct connection between those two events? I I cannot comment if there is a direct connection or not, but all I can say is that uh that that through some process the family came to know that this had happened. One more thing, could you just clarify clothing was he changing outfits? Correct. Yes. Yes. So, um, so when he's first spotted on campus, he has different clothing on and then he changes clothing on the roof and then changed back into that clothing at some point so that when when he was uh when he was apprehended when he when he was arrested, um, the clothing matched the clothing he had on before the shooting here at UVU. Last question here. Yes. um student history. Yeah. So, um I I I I don't have any information on the mental illness part. He was not a student here at UVU. Um he was living and uh and had lived for a long time with his family in uh in Washington County in the southernmost part of our states. Thank you everyone for um for your great work in getting this information out. Uh I I just say process-wise, this may be important. I I know many of you aren't familiar with with the process in Utah. I I think it's important that you understand that. Um basically um we have 3 days for uh charging documents to be filed. A CI will be filed. We'll have more information then more detailed information as those charging documents are filed in in preparation for a preliminary hearing. So 3 days. So you know we would anticipate then that that early next week those charging documents will be filed. We will obviously be working the uh the county attorney will be working very closely with uh with Mr. Kirk's family as uh as those documents and decisions are prepared and made. Thanks everyone.