After Kirk’s killing, suspect joked that his ‘doppelganger’ did it

The day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed, an acquaintance of Mr Tyler Robinson’s posed a question to him in a group chat.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had just released two grainy surveillance images of a skinny young man in a cap and sunglasses walking in a stairwell on the Utah Valley University campus, and had asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspect.

Tagging Mr Robinson’s username on Discord, a messaging platform, the acquaintance attached the images and wrote “wya” – where you at? – with a skull emoji, suggesting that Mr Robinson, 22, looked like the man being sought.

Mr Robinson replied within a minute. His “doppelganger”, he wrote, was trying to “get me in trouble”.

“Tyler killed Charlie!!!!” another user wrote, apparently in jest.

That was the afternoon of Sept 11, around 1pm local time. It was not until later that night, nearly 34 hours after the shooting, that Mr Robinson was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the

assassination of Kirk, 31, a conservative pundit

whose killing has inflamed the political world.

The Discord messages were the clearest glimpse yet of the suspect’s demeanour in the hours after the killing. They were shared with The New York Times by someone who knew Mr Robinson in high school and has kept up with him in the group chat – which includes about 20 people – but said he had not seen Mr Robinson in person for several years.

He spoke on the condition that his name not be used, fearing harassment for being an acquaintance of the suspect.

The Times independently verified that the person who shared the screenshots attended high school with Robinson, and found other indications that they knew one another. The screenshots were shared at the request of the Times. Discord declined to confirm Mr Robinson’s username, but it matches several other accounts that he used elsewhere online.

The suspect is expected to be formally charged

by local prosecutors on Sept 16. It was not clear on Sept 13 if he had a lawyer.

The messages do not shed light on a possible motivation for the shooting, which has been fiercely debated by people trying to ascribe blame to a political side.

A police officer wrote in an affidavit that Mr Robinson had recently discussed Mr Kirk’s upcoming event in Utah with a family member, and that the two had “talked about why they didn’t like him”.

People who knew Mr Robinson over the years said that he was extremely intelligent, followed current events, and spent much of his time online or playing video games. He was registered to vote but was not affiliated with a political party and appeared to have never voted in an election; his parents are both registered Republicans.

After Mr Robinson joked that the gunman was his look-alike, another user suggested that the group could turn Mr Robinson in and get the US$100,000 (S$128,400) reward that the FBI was offering.

“Only if I get a cut,” Robinson responded.

Someone posted: “Whatever you do, don’t go to a mcdonalds anytime soon” – a reference to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who was found at a McDonald’s restaurant and charged with the killing of a health insurance chief executive in New York.

Mr Robinson agreed and offered a supposed joke of his own, writing that he “better also get rid of this manifesto and exact copy rifle I have lying around”.

When another user suggested that the killing of Mr Kirk would lead US President Donald Trump to send the National Guard to Utah, the suspect replied: “In a red state??? Nah CLEARLY the shooter was from California.”

Around that time, several news outlets reported that ammunition found near a rifle at the scene included engravings referencing “transgender ideology”. The truth, ultimately, was that the engravings included the phrase “hey fascist! CATCH!” as well as lyrics from an antifascist Italian folk song and a reference to a sexual meme about a “bulge”.

But at the time, before the exact phrasing of the engravings was publicly known, the suspect sent messages that suggested he was closely following the news.

“I heard the ammo had somethin about trans stuff on it, but they aren’t releasing photos or exact quotes,” he wrote. He added: “And also the claim wasn’t backed by the official FBI, just some dude in the briefing room.”

A few minutes later, he joked: “I’m actually Charlie Kirk, wanted to get outta politics so I faked my death, now I can live out my dream life in Kansas.”

Mr Robinson’s messages on Discord appeared next to his avatar, which was from a Garfield comic and depicted the confused face of Garfield’s owner, Jon Arbuckle.

Police have said that the suspect walked onto campus before the event, in which Mr Kirk debated students with opposing beliefs, and climbed up to the roof of a building about 122m away from where Mr Kirk was speaking. The gunman fired one shot, they said, fatally striking Mr Kirk, and then dropped down from the roof and rushed off campus.

Police said that Mr Robinson had implied or confessed that he committed the crime, and that he was then encouraged by a family member and family friend to turn himself in, which he did. He surrendered to police in South-western Utah, where he lived, more than a three-hour drive from the campus where the shooting took place.

Following the suspect’s arrest on the night of Sept 11, members of the group chat on Discord struggled to believe that he was actually being accused of the crime. “Our governor wants to give him the death penalty dude,” one wrote.

Another said: “I truly cannot distinguish if this is for real.” NYTIMES