Breaking: ‘Catch This Fascist’: Radicalized Utah Suspect Arrested in Charlie Kirk Assassination, Officials Say

“I think the clearest one, that said ‘catch this fascist,’ as in catch this like a ball — I think that speaks for itself,” Governor Spencer Cox said when asked about the shooter’s motive.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s governor and FBI officials this morning announced the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah — reportedly a politically radicalized young man who viewed his target, Charlie Kirk, as “full of hate” — in the assassination of Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, in a daylight shooting on a Utah campus Wednesday that has shocked an already deeply divided nation.

The assassination of Kirk echoes the attempt on Trump’s life during his campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024, when 20-year-old Matthew Crooks opened fire from a roof, grazing Trump’s ear and killing one bystander before Crooks was shot dead by law enforcement.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said investigators were tipped off when a family member of Robinson confided to a friend that Robinson had mentioned Kirk at a family dinner, saying, “Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU” and that Kirk was “full of hate and spreading hate.” The friend alerted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, which relayed the information to Utah County and the FBI.

Robinson was not a student at UVU, and lived with his parents, Cox confirmed.

Investigators confirmed Robinson’s gray Dodge Challenger was captured on campus video at 8:29 a.m. on September 10. His roommate later showed agents Discord messages in which Robinson allegedly described stashing a rifle at a “drop point,” wrapping it in a towel, and returning to watch the area. Messages also referred to “engraving bullets,” changing outfits, and the rifle being “unique.”

Officials said they later discovered a bolt-action rifle wrapped in a dark-colored towel near the UVU campus. “The rifle was determined to be a Mauser Model 98 bolt-action with a scope mounted on top,” Cox said. “Inscriptions had been engraved on the casings.”

According to investigators, Cox confirmed, one fired casing read: “Hey, fascist, catch this.” Another casing bore the inscription “O Bella, Bella ciao ciao,” an apparent reference to the Italian partisan folk song long associated with antifascist resistance movements. A third unfired casing read: “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.”

After FBI Director Kash Patel gave details of the investigation, Cox was asked by a reporter about the motive implied by the inscriptions.

“I think the clearest one, that said ‘catch this fascist,’ as in catch this like a ball — I think that speaks for itself,” Cox said.

Cox was asked what he took from the tragedy.

“I absolutely believe this is a watershed in American history,” Cox said. “This feels a lot like the late ‘60s, having an assassination so gruesomely displayed in all of our hands, in our pockets. We aren’t biologically wired as human beings to process these images. Social media, right now, is a cancer.”

In his opening remarks, before taking questions from reporters, Cox gave an impassioned speech on the broader context he believes surrounds the singular murder of Kirk.

“This is certainly about the tragic political assassination of Charlie Kirk, but it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual,” Cox said. “It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times.”

“Political violence is different than any other type of violence for lots of different reasons,” he continued. “Because in the very act that Charlie championed — expression, that freedom of expression enshrined in our founding documents — in having his life taken in that very act, it makes it more difficult for people to feel like they can share their ideas, that they can speak freely.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct the date of the Trump assassination attempt.