Understanding Tyler Robinson’s Motives

Before the suspected assassin of Charlie Kirk had been arrested, the hunt for his apparent motive was underway. Now, evidence revealed in the last few days suggests that Robinson, the alleged killer, was chronically online and spent his time in niche corners of the internet unknown to the average American—where his turn toward extremism appears to have started.

Even before Robinson was a person of interest in the case, the strongest clues about the killer’s motives lay inscribed on four bullet casings with strange messages—which, according to an early report from The Wall Street Journal, contained references to transgender ideology and antifa, a decentralized left-wing movement that opposes fascism through violent and nonviolent means and which Donald Trump announced Wednesday he would designate a “major terrorism organization.” (The report was later corrected to clarify that the ammunition did not include any transgender references.)

The Assassination of Charlie Kirk

The Battle Cry of Erika Kirk

Kat Rosenfield

Defying the Assassin’s Veto: Grace in a Time of Violence

Eli Lake

Je Suis Charlie

The Editors

What Charlie Kirk Meant to Me

The Free Press

Then, yesterday afternoon, the Utah County Attorney’s office filed charges that offered new insight into Robinson’s suspected motive, which, according to his mother, may have been related to a recent turn to pro-trans ideology as well as the conviction that Kirk was spreading hate. “I had enough of his hatred,” Robinson said in a text to his trans roommate and lover Lance “Luna” Twiggs on the day of Kirk’s alleged killing. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

For help decoding Robinson’s very modern manifesto I spoke to independent reporter Andy Ngo, who has covered far-left extremism for the better part of a decade. In reporting on antifa protests, Ngo has repeatedly put himself in harm’s way—including getting beaten up and hospitalized—in order to get to the heart of what motivates violent extremists in the United States.