• Suspect arrested after family friend alerted authorities.
• Robinson had criticised Kirk’s views before the shooting.
• Family posts show no political content, mostly family activities.

The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s shooting, Tyler Robinson, is a 22-year-old Utah native who authorities say had allegedly criticised the conservative influencer in a recent conversation and was living with his family at the time of the shooting.

Robinson was arrested late on Thursday after a family friend called authorities, officials said on Friday.

Investigators have not publicly identified a motive. Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters that a family member interviewed by law enforcement said Robinson had recently mentioned Kirk’s appearance at Utah Valley University, where he was shot on Tuesday.

“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints he had,” Cox said.

Robinson had also become more political in recent years, the family member told investigators, and authorities said he had engraved what appeared to be anti-fascist messages on bullet casings they found with the suspected murder weapon.

Robinson, who was arrested for aggravated murder and other charges, has no criminal history, according to state records reviewed by Reuters.

He was a registered voter but was not affiliated with a political party, according to voter records. He is listed as an “inactive” voter, which indicates he did not cast a ballot in last year’s presidential election, when Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris.

Robinson graduated in 2021 from Pine View High School in St George, Utah. A video online of the commencement ceremony shows him carrying his diploma on stage as attendees cheer.

He briefly attended Utah State University in Logan for one semester that fall, the school confirmed to Reuters. It was not immediately clear why he left the college.

In a video posted by his mother on Facebook, Robinson can be seen reading aloud from a letter offering him a four-year scholarship from Utah State University, as she cheered. 

Another post said Robinson had earned a score of 34 on the ACT college entrance exam, which would put him in the top 1% of test takers, according to the Princeton Review test preparation company.

At the time of his arrest, he was living at his family’s home in Washington County, in the southwest corner of Utah near the Nevada border, Cox said.

He has two younger brothers, according to his parents’ Facebook posts. His mother is a social worker at a non-profit healthcare company, while his father’s occupation was not immediately clear.

Facebook posts show doting mother

His mother’s Facebook posts over the years – most of which were deleted on Friday – mostly focused on her family, documenting trips to Alaska, the Caribbean, and Disneyland; celebrating school plays, Halloween costumes, and adopted pet rabbits; and expressing pride as the three boys progressed through school. None of the posts appeared political in any way.

Other posts show Robinson and his brothers occasionally with guns, though that is not uncommon in a state with permissive firearms laws.

“Driving away without him was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do in a long time,” his mother wrote in one post about helping him move to college in 2021. “He’s so excited to start his journey, and it’s going to be so amazing for him!”

On Thursday evening, Cox said, a family member called a family friend who in turn called the Washington County Sheriff’s Office “with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”

Robinson’s roommate also showed messages Robinson had sent via the Discord platform describing leaving a rifle in a bush wrapped in a towel – matching the weapon that authorities recovered in a wooded area near the scene of the shooting.

Robinson was booked into the Utah County jail in Spanish Fork, about 12 miles (19 km) south of the university where Kirk was shot. He has not yet been formally charged.

• Nepal’s first female chief justice named interim head.
• Shops reopen, cars back on roads in Kathmandu.
• Authorities begin handing over bodies of those killed.

KATHMANDU: Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, will become the first woman to lead Nepal, to be sworn in as interim leader later on Friday after violent anti-graft protests forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign, the president’s office said.

President Ramchandra Paudel’s office announced Karki’s appointment following negotiations between Paudel, army chief Ashok Raj Sigdel and the protesters who led Nepal’s worst upheaval in years.

Fifty-one people were killed and more than 1,300 injured this week in the anti-graft protests by the “Gen Z” movement, named for the age of its mainly young supporters.

The protest was sparked by a social media ban that has since been rolled back. The violence subsided only after Oli resigned on Tuesday.

Karki, 73, would take the oath of office at 9:15pm local time, said Archana Khadka Adhikari, information officer at the president’s office. Two other ministers would also be sworn in along with her, local TV channels reported.

The only woman to have served as chief justice, Karkiwas the preferred choice of the protesters who cite her reputation for honesty and integrity and a stance against corruption.

She held the top judicial post for about a year until mid-2017.

Restoration of normalcy

Nepal has grappled with political and economic instability since the abolition of its monarchy in 2008, while a lack of jobs drives millions to seek work in other countries and send money home.

As the country of 30 million people inched back to normality on Friday – with shops reopened, cars back on roads, and police replacing the guns they wielded earlier this week with batons – families reclaimed bodies of those killed in the protests.

Some roads were still blocked, although streets were patrolled by fewer soldiers than before.

“While his friends backed off (from the protests), he decided to go ahead,” Karuna Budhathoki said of her 23-year-old nephew, as she waited to collect his body at Kathmandu’s Teaching Hospital.

“We were told he was brought dead to the hospital.”

Another protester who died, Ashab Alam Thakurai, 24, had been married only a month earlier, his relatives said.

“The last we spoke to him … he said he was stuck with the protest. After that we could not contact him … eventually we found him in the morgue,” said his uncle, Zulfikar Alam.

The Government of Singapore on Friday pledged a seed money of USD 50,000 in humanitarian assistance for the people of Pakistan, affected by devastating floods. “The Singapore Government will contribute US$ 50,000 as seed money to support the Singapore Red Cross (SRC)’s public fundraising efforts towards the humanitarian crisis, caused by floods in Pakistan,” Singapore Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The contribution by the Singapore Government will supplement the SRC’s pledge of S$50,000 to support the immediate needs of affected communities, it added. The Singapore foreign ministry also conveyed deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the floods.

Pakistan Embassy in Singapore said in a statement that the contribution by the Singapore government reflected Singapore’s solidarity with the people of Pakistan during this difficult time.

It will support ongoing relief and recovery efforts to assist families and communities impacted by the floods, according to a press release by Pakistan embassy in Singapore. The Singapore Red Cross launched its fund-raising appeal last week to support those in Pakistan impacted by the mid-August monsoon floods. It also committed US$ 39,000 to support humanitarian efforts in Pakistan and the contribution by the Singapore government will supplement this pledge.