PROVO, Utah (AP) — The man charged with killing Charlie Kirk strolled Utah Valley University in shorts and a T-shirt, bought a meal at Chick-fil-A and made contact with Kirk's staff, before returning in different clothes to shoot the conservative activist from a rooftop, an investigator testified Tuesday.
Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull described Tyler Robinson's alleged movements before and after Kirk was killed as prosecutors
played previously unseen campus surveillance videos in state court. The defendant first arrived on campus about four hours before Kirk was killed, Hull said.
Prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty in the case. They are trying to convince Judge Tony Graf that they have enough evidence to bring Robinson to trial on an aggravated murder charge.
Robinson has not yet entered a plea. His attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence. They have, however, sought to get the death penalty taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.
In a video shown Tuesday, Robinson goes over a railing onto a rooftop, crouches down and runs to a site overlooking where Kirk was speaking, Hull testified. After the shooting, Robinson runs back across the roof, drops to the ground and flees on foot, Hull said.
Investigators later found the suspected murder weapon — a bolt-action rifle with one spent round — wrapped in a towel in some nearby woods. Later that night, a police offer again spotted Robinson in the campus area, Hull testified.
This week's preliminary hearing marks the most significant presentation of evidence to date in the case. Authorities allege Robinson, 23, shot Kirk on Sept. 10 while the conservative activist and ally of President Donald Trump was speaking to a crowd of thousands.
Former university police Officer Christopher Bagley testified Monday that he witnessed the shooting then went to the nearby gravel rooftop, where it appeared someone had been lying prone with a clear sightline to Kirk’s location.
“It looks like a sniper pad,” Bagley told the court.
Prosecutors also plan to present video from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office from Sept. 11 — the day Robinson turned himself in — and recorded testimony from Robinson’s roommate.
Prosecutors allege Robinson confessed in a note left for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
Robinson reportedly texted his roommate that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred,” prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors have also said they plan to present DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, autopsy findings and witness statements. They contend the shooting endangered others at Kirk’s campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law.
Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help Trump win a second term.
This week marks the first time Kirk’s parents, Kathryn and Robert, and widow, Erika, have been in the courtroom since the case began. Robinson’s parents, Matt and Amber Robinson, also have been present and sat a few rows behind the Kirks on Monday.
Kirk's family briefly walked out of the courtroom twice on Monday — when Bagley started testifying about Charlie Kirk’s arrival on campus and again when prosecutors introduced several graphic videos of Kirk’s shooting. Each time, they returned.
The proceeding resembles a minitrial, but prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk and should stand trial. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors must prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Legal experts say that means prosecutors should have little trouble advancing their case.
Defense attorney Kathryn Nester repeatedly objected to evidence introduced by prosecutors. She was mostly overruled by the judge.
When she asked Bagley about finding an empty pistol holster on the ground after the crowd fled, he acknowledged he never took custody of the holster and didn’t know whether it had been fingerprinted.
Utah County residents Denae Branch and Jean Rivera lined up outside the courthouse in Provo around midnight Tuesday and snagged one of the few seats available to the public.
The women said they were in the crowd when Kirk was shot and now think about it every day.
“It feels like a lot of the world just kept spinning and we’re still dealing with the trauma of it,” Branch said. “Our hearts and minds are still trying to process it and, yeah, it kind of helps being here.”
Rivera on Tuesday wore a shirt that read “FREEDOM” -- just as Kirk did on the day he was shot. She said she hoped to hear testimony about Robinson’s alleged confession note.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
