The blame game over suspect Tyler Robinson’s motives for shooting Charlie Kirk continued to play out this weekend with some on the left continuing to claim that Robinson was a Groyper or someone critical of Charlie Kirk but on the far right.
There have been a lot of twists and turns in this story already. There was a report in the Guardian Friday that Tyler’s high school classmate said he was pretty far left on everything but by Saturday those comments had been deleted from the story. However, CNN published its own story Saturday which included some similar comments from a co-worker:
An electrician who worked with Robinson on a job just a few weeks ago – and asked not to be named, like others who spoke about Robinson, due to the sensitivity of the situation – described his colleague as a shy presence who “wasn’t talkative unless he was spoken to.”
Robinson “didn’t really talk political… unless someone brought it up,” the electrician said, adding that “he wasn’t too fond of Trump or Charlie (Kirk).”
But yesterday, Fox News reported that Robinson was in a relationship with his trans roommate.
Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin lived with his transgender partner, senior-level FBI officials told Fox News Digital.
Bureau officials confirmed that Tyler Robinson, 22, was in a “romantic relationship” with the unnamed person, who is a male transitioning to a female, and that they shared an apartment in Saint George, Utah. Those FBI officials told Fox News Digital that Robinson’s partner is fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation.
That report by Fox News got some direct support in the form of an interview with a neighbor of Tyler Robinson. Josh Kemp said he’d seen Robinson and his roommate Lance Twiggs kissing and holding hands in the parking lot just a couple weeks ago.
Today, Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah appeared on CNN’s morning show and verified that Tyler Robinson was in a relationship with his roommate and that roommate is trans. However, as you’ll see, he would not say definitively if this was the motive for the shooting.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox on the investigation into Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson:
-His family and friends confirmed he was deeply indoctrinated in leftist ideology
-He was in a relationship with a transgender man pic.twitter.com/bOeElorKOf
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 14, 2025
But also this morning Axios has a report out attributed to six unnamed investigators. They now believe trans issues may be the key to the motive.
Authorities are investigating whether Tyler Robinson, suspected of killing Charlie Kirk, believed Kirk’s views on gender identity were “hateful” to people like Robinson’s transgender roommate, six sources familiar with the case tell Axios.
Investigators believe Robinson’s anger at Kirk’s views could be a key to establishing a motive for the slaying of the controversial activist whose death sent shockwaves through American politics.
Each of the six sources familiar with the investigation told Axios that investigators believe Robinson had a romantic relationship with his roommate…
The roommate was “aghast” at the slaying when speaking to investigators and shared electronic messages sent by Robinson, one of the sources said.
So the story about the relationship with roommate Lance Twiggs seems to be confirmed at this point, but the claim that Twiggs knew nothing in advance about the shooting is a little hard to believe. Robinson contacted Lance after the shooting and told him where he’d left the rifle. In essence, he confessed to murder. Would he have done that out of the blue, i.e. if Lance knew nothing about this plot would he first learn about it in a text confession about the location of the gun?
I guess anything is possible but it seems strange to me. This sounds more like someone checking if after the deed was done. In any case, Twiggs did immediately hand over his text messages with Robinson to authorities and is said to be cooperating. But Axios reports that investigators are still asking questions about whether anyone else knew about the plot in advance.
Federal and state law enforcement officials also are examining leftist groups in Utah to see whether they had knowledge of the alleged shooter’s plans beforehand, or if they lent material support to him afterward.
One of those groups eliminated its social media profile after the shooting, Axios has learned.
The group that wiped its social media account was Armed Queers Salt Lake City. It’s not clear if that means anything beyond not wanting blowback at this moment but I’m glad authorities are looking at it.
Bottom line, it seems increasingly clear that Tyler Robinson had moved left and that his views about Charlie Kirk (i.e. calling him a fascist) came from that perspective. We’ll see if anything new turns up as the week goes on.
Join Hot Air VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
