WASHINGTON, Utah – The family of the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination played an “almost unheard of” role in helping turn him in, an expert told Fox News Digital.
Police say 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was identified and reported to authorities with the help of his own family – a decision one expert described as extraordinary and profoundly difficult.
“Life is never going to be the same for them,” Susan Constantine, a human behavior specialist, told Fox News Digital. “The fact that they stood up, did what was right, even as difficult as it was – their own son, their own blood, to think that their own blood was capable of carrying out such a heinous act. It has got to be a weight that none of us could ever imagine on our shoulders.”
Constantine, who specializes in threat assessment and deception detection, said the family’s actions reflect “a moral compass” and may even serve as a model for other families confronted with signs of radicalization.
TIMELINE OF CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION
During a Friday news conference, officials announced the arrest of Robinson, a Utah resident, as the suspect who they believe shot and killed Kirk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday while the Turning Point USA founder was speaking at an event on campus.
“A family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said at the news conference.
“Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years. The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to Sept. 10, and in that conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had.”
Sources told Fox News that Robinson’s father played a role in his surrender.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CHARLIE KIRK
President Donald Trump said on “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning, “Somebody that was very close to him said, ‘hmm, that’s him.’ And essentially went to the father, went to a U.S. marshal who was fantastic, by the way, and the person was involved with law enforcement, but was a person of faith, a minister, and brought him to a U.S. Marshal who was fantastic and the father convinced the son, this is it.”
Constantine suggested the decision by Robinson’s father likely came after serious deliberation.
SCRUTINY INTENSIFIES OVER SECURITY LAPSES SURROUNDING THE CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTING
“Either the dad called an attorney first or, more likely, he and another family member had a serious conversation and knew they had to act quickly,” she said. “It’s almost unheard of, but they did what was right and took someone, even though it was a son, that was unsafe to make the citizens in that community safer.
“Parents are now being held responsible… if they knew, if they had any idea, they had to come forward to protect themselves, too,” she explained.
CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION: TIMELINE OF UTAH CAMPUS SHOOTING DETAILS ATTACK, MANHUNT FOR SUSPECT
With Robinson now in custody, investigators will dig into what might have motivated the suspect. The rifle that authorities believe was used in the assassination contained ammunition inscribed with antifascist messaging, sources confirmed to Fox News Digital.
“There are roots to this evil,” Constantine warned. “And there are people that know where the roots of the evil are. Because it’s those roots that are starting to spin and to indoctrinate and create all of this violent anger and hatred towards any sort of groups.
“They are using them as puppets to carry out the worst act in the entire world, which is to kill, steal and destroy perfectly good human beings that stand for good.”
Constantine also shared a personal account of her daughter’s brush with dangerous ideology to emphasize how quickly youth can be drawn in.
“As a mother, I’ve seen it firsthand. My own daughter was recruited into a radical ideology. These kids don’t always come from broken homes,” she explained. “They come from great families and once they get their hooks into wherever they got it from, generally more from the social media, the social contagion, they can be radicalized very quickly.”
YOUTH LEADERS MOURN ‘THE GODFATHER OF CAMPUS CONSERVATISM’ CHARLIE KIRK FOLLOWING ASSASSINATION
According to Constantine, individuals often leave digital or verbal clues before committing violence. She cited her work with FBI consultants and language-analysis software known as “Decipher,” which examines writings for patterns linked to violent offenders.
“They’ve analyzed the language of known serial killers, arsonists and mass murderers, and found that there was a consistent type of language found in them,” she explained.
She added that her research includes analyzing letters and manifestos, blogs and text messages, anything that could give authorities insight into whether a person was going to carry out a violent act.
“In other cases I’ve worked, it was written all over the wall,” she said.
The key, she said, is training law enforcement and schools in pre-threat analysis. “We call it ‘pre-bang’ – spotting dangerous demeanor before violence erupts.”
Constantine expressed hope that the lessons from these horrific acts will push society to act earlier.
“This is what I hope – that from all of these horrendous acts we’re seeing, we begin to implement what we call understanding dangerous demeanor, before they act out and do what Tyler did to us,” she said.
She added that the timing struck her personally. “I was literally in a meeting about this when I found out about Kirk. It was surreal.”
Now that Robinson is in custody, Constantine says investigators will focus on interviews and interrogations to uncover his motivations and potential connections.
“First of all, you start with the interview. You want to get him to open up and tell the story from beginning to end without interruption. And then, after assessment of what they gather, they more than likely will leave the room and decide whether they’re going to move into an interrogation,” she said.
“They’ll say, ‘So right now is your time to tell us, because if you don’t, you’re looking down the barrel to the death penalty.'”
“The death penalty is on the table and somebody is going to be held accountable for it,” Constantine said. “The fact he (Kirk) was killed in such a horrific manner, an assassination, I think it’s going to be very hard-pressed that a judge would give him any leniency or any sort of mitigating circumstances around it.”
For Constantine, the case underscores a broader crisis of youth radicalization and grievance-based violence.
“It’s so mind-numbing that we’re here and that we have so many youth that are so confused and bitter and hateful and rising up, because we see a lot of this in this younger generation,” she said. “We’ve got to figure out what’s going wrong. We’ve got to fix it.”
As for Kirk’s legacy, she said he may be remembered not just as an influential political figure, but as a bridge builder.
“That’s what I thought that Kirk did beautifully, was he was bringing everyone together and talking about truth,” Constantine said.
And that, she said, may be the most tragic part of all: “He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was the right person for the job. And he was the right voice to be able to speak truth into youth and to open up the dialogue and not to condemn them, but to bring them closer to Christ.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman, Ashley Oliver and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
