American investigators investigating the murder of conservative blogger, podcaster and pro-tempo activist Charlie Kirk are examining whether the motive of the alleged killer, identified as Tyler Robinson, may have been related to Kirk's views on gender identity, write “Axios“, “New York Post“ and “Fox News“, BTA reported.
According to the three American media outlets, Robinson's roommate was transgender, undergoing a process of transformation from male to female. “New York Post“ identified him as 22-year-old Lance Twiggs. Twiggs' relatives confirmed that he was Robinson's roommate. And six sources familiar with the investigation into Kirk's murder told Axios that Robinson may have had a romantic relationship with his roommate.
Charlie Kirk was shot and killed with a single shot during an event at the University of Utah in Orem. The event was part of his tour of American universities. A little more than a day after the killing, after being persuaded by relatives, the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, turned himself in. Kirk was 31 years old, and Robinson was 22.
Kirk was shot shortly after a person in the audience - Hunter Kozak asked him what he thought about transgender people and specifically whether he knew how many transgender Americans had committed mass shootings in the past 10 years in the United States, the New York Post reported. Kirk responded, "Too many." Kozak then asked him if he knew how many mass shootings there had been in the past 10 years in the United States, to which Kirk replied, "Does that include gang violence or not?" the New York Post reported.
According to Axios, Robinson's roommate has now cooperated with authorities in the investigation and shared with them emails he had received from Robinson. In one of the messages, signed by "Tyler" The sender mentioned that he had wrapped his firearm and thrown it in the bushes near the university site.
Robinson's motives and political ideology are the subject of lively debate in the United States. Some conservatives say he was left-wing. Liberals, however, point out that Robinson's family is conservative and that most of his relatives are Republicans. This was confirmed by the doyenne of the Robinson family - Debbie Robinson, in an interview with the “Daily Mail“ on Friday.
Robinson's family members told reporters that he had become more political in recent years and had expressed interest in Kirk's visit to the University of Utah in Oram.