By JESSE BEDAYN, HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press
The man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university has been charged with aggravated murder. The charge means 22-year-old Tyler Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem. Kirk was gunned down Sept. 10 as he spoke with students and died soon after. Prosecutors allege Robinson shot Kirk in the neck with a bolt-action rifle from the roof of a nearby campus building. Robinson also is charged with felony discharge of a firearm and obstructing justice. It's unclear if Robinson has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Prosecutors say Robinson's DNA was found on the trigger of the gun used to kill Kirk.
FBI Director Kash Patel says DNA on a towel wrapped around a rifle found near where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated matches that of the 22-year-old accused in the killing. Patel told Fox News Channel on Monday investigators also have used DNA to link suspect Tyler Robinson with a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop where the fatal shot was fired. Authorities in Utah are preparing to file capital murder charges against Robinson as early as Tuesday in the killing of Kirk, a dominant figure in conservative politics. Patel says Robinson wrote in a note before the shooting that he had an opportunity to take out Kirk. Robinson's family has declined to comment.
By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
Updated
Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, is in critical condition at a hospital after being shot Wednesday at a Utah event, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. A video captured at the event showed Kirk bleeding heavily from an apparent gunshot wound near his neck. Officials say a suspect is in custody. Videos posted to social media show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogan "The American Comeback" and "Prove Me Wrong." A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching for his neck with his right hand.
After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town that had for decades provided the premiere independent film gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop. Sundance had narrowed down the options to Salt Lake City (with a smaller presence in Park City), Cincinnati and Boulder. Organizers said that after 40 years in the mountains, the festival had outgrown Park City, and lacked the necessary theaters or affordable housing to continue hosting what has become one of North America's most sprawling movie events.
A 42-year-old man fatally shot his five children, his mother-in-law and his wife, then killed himself two weeks after the woman had filed for divorce, according to authorities and public records. Enoch Police Chief Jackson Ames said during a Thursday press conference that officers had been involved with some investigations involving the family a "couple of years prior," but he did not elaborate. The crime rocked Enoch, a small town in southern Utah 245 miles about halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. It's one of the fastest-growing areas of the country and communities of new homes are made up of large families that belong, like most of Utah, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church.
