{"id":138225,"date":"2026-07-09T20:16:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/prosecutors-plan-to-play-redacted-statements-from-roommate-of-defendant-in-charlie-kirks-killing\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:20:17","slug":"prosecutors-plan-to-play-redacted-statements-from-roommate-of-defendant-in-charlie-kirks-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/prosecutors-plan-to-play-redacted-statements-from-roommate-of-defendant-in-charlie-kirks-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing said ‘he wishes he hadn’t done it,’ roommate says in video"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tyler
Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, listens during a preliminary hearing at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PROVO, Utah (AP) \u2014 The defendant in Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing told his roommate<\/a> \u201che wishes he hadn\u2019t done it\u201d the day after the conservative activist<\/a> was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University, a recording played in court revealed Thursday.<\/p>\n

Lance Twiggs, who was also defendant Tyler Robinson\u2019s<\/a> romantic partner, said in an interview with law enforcement that the teary interaction with Robinson happened in their apartment in southern Utah, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from where Kirk was shot.<\/p>\n

Later that same day \u2014 and only about an hour before turning himself in \u2014 Robinson posted “it was me at UVU yesterday,\u201d in a chat room on the Discord instant messaging platform, according to investigators and messages shown by prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and has not entered a plea. He turned himself in<\/a> a day after the Sept. 10 shooting of Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump credited with helping galvanize young voters for the Republican in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Ammunition found in the gun used to kill Kirk had engravings that included \u201cHey Facist! CATCH!\u201d and \u201cIf you Read This, You Are GAY,\u201d according to prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty.<\/p>\n

Robinson appeared to furrow his brow and smirk when text messages he sent to Twiggs about the engraved bullets were displayed in the courtroom Thursday.<\/p>\n

Robinson’s family sat behind him, and his mom cried as the Discord messages were read aloud. She rubbed the shoulder of one of Robinson\u2019s brothers, who listened with his head bowed.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully fought the public release of the statements from Twiggs and the chat room messages. They argued prosecutors would characterize the material as a confession, undermining Robinson\u2019s right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

After prolonged debate that included an attorney for Kirk\u2019s family arguing for the material to be publicly released, state District Judge Tony Graf allowed a redacted version of Twiggs’ video interview to be played. Some parts were blacked out, with only audio.<\/p>\n

Graf is weighing whether prosecutors have enough evidence<\/a> to bring Robinson to trial. He won\u2019t rule until after both sides present arguments on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

Notes and text exchanges were shown in court<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robinson\u2019s attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence but have sought to get the death penalty<\/a> taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Michael Burt tried to inject doubt into the prosecution\u2019s case by challenging the reliability of ballistics tests on a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk\u2019s body. Authorities sought to tie the fragment to the suspected murder weapon, but the results were inconclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying anything but inconclusive was inappropriate,\u201d said Samantha Karner with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n

The defense earlier in the week had questioned the reliability of DNA evidence that investigators said linked Robinson to the scene. Experts say the science behind DNA testing is sound.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Robinson confessed in a handwritten note to Twiggs that read: \u201cI had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.\u201d The note, shown in full for the first time Thursday, continued, \u201cI wish we could have lived in a world where this did not feel necessary.”<\/p>\n

Robinson also allegedly sent a text to Twiggs saying he targeted Kirk because he \u201chad enough of his hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Davis recounted the messages exchanged between Twiggs and Robinson under questioning by a prosecutor Thursday. Included were texts from Robinson worrying about leaving fingerprints on a rifle that belonged to his grandfather, which authorities believe he used to shoot Kirk.<\/p>\n

Twiggs spoke to authorities on Sept. 12 \u2014 two days after Kirk was assassinated while speaking to a crowd of thousands \u2014 and again on April 20, Davis said. He was given immunity for the statements, meaning what Twiggs said cannot be used against him in a potential criminal case.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors contend the shooting endangered others at Kirk\u2019s campus event \u2014 an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. Robinson also faces possible sentence enhancements based on claims by prosecutors that he targeted Kirk because of his political views.<\/p>\n

Twiggs said in the April interview that Robinson sometimes talked about politics, including Trump. But Twiggs said he never heard Robinson talk about Kirk before the shooting. The defendant also did not talk much about LGBTQ rights, Twiggs testified.<\/p>\n

Kirk’s friends react to new evidence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kirk\u2019s parents and widow, Erika, sat a few rows back from Robinson’s family on Thursday. U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, also was in attendance.<\/p>\n

Brandon Tatum, a conservative media personality and close friend of Kirk, said he was \u201cshocked at how much relevant evidence” Twiggs’ shared in his interview. He left court Thursday feeling confident about prosecutors’ case but had mixed feelings about the judge’s decision to hold off ruling until after a September hearing.<\/p>\n

“I think the family’s waited long enough, but I’d rather it be done right and done in confidence than for it to be hastily done the next day without being thoroughly, I guess, bulletproof,” Tatum said.<\/p>\n

Another conservative activist, Jack Posobiec, said he got emotional seeing photos of the bullet fragments that hit his friend. “But you have to push through that pain and push through all of that to be able to get justice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Investigators say Robinson went to a rooftop near where Kirk was speaking and shot him once in the neck while the activist was taking questions from a crowd of several thousand people. Kirk, 31, was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.<\/p>\n

\"A
A video interview with Lance Twiggs, Tyler Robinson's roommate and reported romantic partner, is shown during a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
An image of a rifle that prosecutors say was recovered by investigators near Utah Valley University is displayed during a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A photograph which prosecutors say shows a text message exchange between Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, and Robinson's roommate and romantic partner Lance Twiggs, is shown during a preliminary hearing at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A law enforcement officer uses binoculars to watch from the roof of the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026, before a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – Tyler Robinson, who is accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk, appears during a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 11, 2025. (Rick Egan\/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool, File)<\/span>(Rick Egan\/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, listens during a preliminary hearing at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool) PROVO, Utah (AP) \u2014 The defendant in Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing told his roommate \u201che wishes he hadn\u2019t done it\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138225"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138381,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138225\/revisions\/138381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138225"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}