Suspected Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson was filmed performing an apparent dry run of the shooting hours before the conservative star was killed.
Video obtained by TMZ shows a figure believed to be Robinson walking towards Utah Valley University around 8am last Wednesday, about four hours before Kirk was shot.
The alleged assassin, 22, was recorded walking through a residential neighborhood in Orem before he allegedly entered the campus grounds.
The suspect was seen wearing a maroon shirt, black baseball cap, light shorts and sneakers – the same outfit that police claim Robinson wore the morning of the shooting.
He was captured walking the same route at 11:49am, about half an hour before Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck.
Robinson’s movements suggest a practice attempt prior to the deadly shooting of Kirk that shocked the world..
The suspected gunman was arrested late Thursday night and is being held in a Utah jail on suspicion of aggravated murder.
He’ll appear before a court on Tuesday and will likely face capital murder charges that could see him executed by a firing squad.
Kirk, close ally of President Donald Trump, was hit by a single bullet while addressing a large crowd at Utah Valley University in the town of Orem on Wednesday.
Investigators had appeared to be making slow progress in the manhunt for Kirk’s killer, until the FBI released security camera images of a young man.
‘We got him,’ Utah Governor Spencer Cox told a news conference Friday, identifying the suspect as Robinson, who had reportedly been confronted by his father over the pictures and then turned in.
Details about Robinson began to trickle out Friday, a picture emerging of a young man from a Republican family in St. George, a staunchly conservative city some four hours south of Orem.
Photographs showed the young man – who was in the third year of an electrician apprenticeship – posing with guns and dressed for Halloween in a costume in which he appears to be riding Trump’s shoulders.
It is alleged that Robinson carried a hatred for Kirk and ascribed to a ‘leftist ideology’ that had grown in recent years. He lived with a transgender partner who has not been linked to the killing and who is cooperating with police.
Robinson’s family and friends said he spent large amounts of time scrolling the ‘dark corners of the internet,’ Cox claimed. The governor added that the suspect had been radicalized ‘in a fairly short amount of time’.
Speculation swirled over markings that Cox said were found on unused bullet casings in the weapon Robinson is believed to have used.
One cartridge had ‘Hey, fascist! Catch!’ written on it, while another featured ‘Bella ciao,’ – a World War II-era Italian anti-fascist song that reports said had recently been repurposed in niche online circles.
Other cartridges were marked with symbols and wording that appeared to be from online gaming culture.
It took 33 hours to arrest Robinson, with police and FBI having detained, then released, two people unconnected to the case.
Investigators then found the alleged murder weapon, a high-powered hunting rifle, in a wooded area near the university and released photos of a young man dressed in a baseball cap and casual clothing.
Late Thursday, officials in Orem released more details about the suspect’s clothing and initial movements after the shooting, pleading with the public to help identify him.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the arrest was finally made at 10pm Thursday. Cox credited assistance from the alleged killer’s family.
On Monday, Patel confirmed that DNA on a towel wrapped around a rifle found near the shooting site matched that of Robinson.
Investigators also have used DNA evidence to link Robinson with a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop where the fatal shot was fired, Patel added.
The FBI director told Fox News that Robinson had written in a note before the shooting that he had an opportunity to take out Kirk and was going to do it.
Investigators were able to recover the note’s contents after it had been destroyed, Patel said, paraphrasing from the note without revealing more details.
Authorities said Robinson has not been cooperating with law enforcement.
Meanwhile, tributes to Kirk are continuing across the country.
A line of mourners wrapped around the Kennedy Center in Washington for a vigil on Sunday, and there were moments of silence at several professional sporting events.
Utah has the death penalty for such crimes – a punishment Trump has said he would like imposed.
Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 to drive conservative viewpoints among young people, with his natural showmanship making him a go-to spokesman on television networks.
The father-of-two used his audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for conservative talking points, and to spread carefully edited clips of his interactions during debates at his many college events.
