Politics

Tyler Robinson, the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk, was taken into police custody some 33 hours after the shooting. Reportedly, after seeing widely circulated images from UVU surveillance cameras, his father recognized his son, urged Tyler to turn himself in, notified authorities, and ensured his son would not flee further. Those are no small acts of courage. The Robinson family has shown great love for Tyler, for the public, and for the rule of law.

The elder Robinson’s prompt actions sharply contrast with parental actions seen in recent high-profile cases. In October 2024, the parents of accused murderer Jennifer Gledhill were arrested for obstruction of justice in the death of Matthew Johnson, for helping clean up the crime scene, and destroying evidence in the case. Reportedly, neither of Gledhill’s parents cooperated with police, and a search of the parents’ home found a gun matching one their daughter purportedly showed an informant. However, a recent search of Utah State court records showed no cases currently filed against either parent.

In August 2021, after Gabby Petito’s disappearance during a cross-country trip, her traveling companion, Brian Laundrie, called his parents, asking them to find him an attorney. After returning to his parents’ home in Florida, he retreated into a nature preserve where he took his own life, leaving near his body writings admitting responsibility for Gabby’s death. The Laundries’ attorney advised them not to speak to anyone about the situation, so they didn’t. Gabby’s parents sued Brian’s estate for wrongful death, and also sued Brian’s parents, alleging that they withheld information about the location and death of their daughter. In an undated letter found in Brian’s backpack, Brian’s mother affirmed her love and loyalty to him, saying that if he needed to dispose of a body, she would show up with a shovel and garbage bags, and would bake a cake with a shiv in it, should he go to prison. She dismissed the verbiage as “a jokey, stupid letter… bad jokes and poor humor… I never imagined any of this.” In February 2024, “the Laundries reached a confidential settlement with the Petitio family.

Tyler Robinson is in a special unit of the Utah County jail, awaiting his first court date on September 16. The nightmare for the Kirk and Robinson families will continue for years. Just as a handful of attendees at the UVU event cheered Charlie Kirk’s death in real time, some will cheer the demonization of Tyler Robinson. His guilt—assumed or real–will taint some people’s views of his family, and his humanity. The Robinsons knew that when they urged their son to turn himself in. Yet the Robinsons chose to do what was right, despite their own fear and anguish.

Governor Cox said he prayed that the shooter was not “one of us” a statement that has been criticized as reflecting a “deeper prejudice,” despite his well-received admonitions to decrease virulent rhetoric. “We will never be able to solve all the other problems, including the violence problems that people are worried about, if we can’t have a clash of ideas safely and securely, even especially, especially, those ideas with which you disagree,” Governor Cox stated Friday.

Only a few hours after Kirk’s death, President Trump blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for fomenting violence and vowed his administration would find those who contributed to Kirk’s death and to political violence against judges and law enforcement personnel. Hasan Piker, described as a “popular lefty streamer,” was scheduled to debate Kirk at Dartmouth College in two weeks. In a September 11 Politico interview, Piker said engaging in “any sort of political advocacy when you do these events” leads to death threats. He believes this happens when “democratic institutions are not working to meet the demands of the overall population.” According to Piker, people experience so much discontent, anger, and desperation, “that they can’t deal with it,” and some will seek “some distorted sense of justice in their own minds.” He fears governmental suppression of free speech and persecution of political dissidents, those considered “enemies of the state,” in addition to apparent lone-wolf violence, such as the shooting at UVU.

As we consider our own responses to the killing of Charlie Kirk, we must remember that Tyler Robinson is a human being who deserves a fair trial by an impartial jury. His family deserves privacy in which to deal with their own grief. They deserve compassion. Cynics may say that Tyler’s father acted in self-interest to preserve his own reputation, or to prevent Tyler from “committing suicide by cop.” Whatever he felt or thought, this father did what was right.

We should do no less.