The SMS conversation with Robinson's roommate and partner was made public in connection with the 22-year-old being formally charged with the murder in his home state of Utah. It provides insight into how Robinson thought and a hint about the motive.
The conversation begins with Robinson asking his roommate to "drop what he has in his hands" and look under his keyboard. There, he had left a note saying he had "taken the chance" to kill Charlie Kirk.
A joke?
The partner reacts with a row of question marks and asks if it's a joke.
"It shouldn't take long before I can come home, but I have to pick up my rifle. If I'm going to be honest, I had hoped this would be a secret until I die as an old man. I'm so sorry to drag you into this," Robinson replies.
"Was it you who did it ????", the roommate persists.
"It was me, sorry."
A bit further into the messaging, the roommate asks briefly "why?".
"I had had enough of his hate. Some hate cannot be negotiated away. If I can pick up my rifle without being discovered, I haven't left any evidence behind me."
Tyler Robinson writes further that he planned the deed for about a week. The longer time goes on, the more worried he becomes about the rifle, which he writes that he left wrapped in a towel a bit away from the university where the shots fell. It emerges that the weapon is his grandfather's and quite unusual. In the SMS conversation, he worries about how he will explain to his father, a "die-hard Maga" person, where the weapon went.
In the end, the 22-year-old asks his roommate to delete the conversation. He writes that he will surrender to the police and lovingly adds that the only thing he is worried about is his partner.
"I'm more worried about you," replies the roommate, who according to media reports was born as a man and has begun gender-affirming care.
Strong feelings
Prosecutors have requested the death penalty for Tyler Robinson.
Right-wing debater and influencer Charlie Kirk, who was on a debate tour, was an outspoken opponent of transgender surgery for minors and of transgender people competing as women in sports. Just before the shots fell, he was asked how many mass shootings in the USA had been carried out by transgender people in the last ten years.
Too many, he replied.
Over the years, Kirk has also expressed criticism of LGBTQ people's rights, immigrants, quotas, and feminism, which has sparked strong reactions.
31-year-old Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking in front of a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, American time.
The young father has been described as a superstar within the American right and was close to President Donald Trump, and it was Trump who, a few hours after the shooting, via social media, announced that Kirk was dead.
As an 18-year-old, Kirk co-founded the conservative student organization Turning Point USA and is said to have been a contributing factor to why so many young Americans voted for Trump in last year's election.
Kirk will be honored with a memorial on September 21. President Trump is expected to attend the funeral.
Charlie Kirk will posthumously be awarded the USA's highest honor for civilians, according to information from Trump.
