After Kirk's Killing, Suspect Joked That His 'Doppelganger' Did It

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

Sept. 13, 2025, 8:20 p.m. ET


The day after Charlie Kirk was killed, an acquaintance of Tyler Robinson’s posed a question to him in a group chat. The F.B.I. had just released two grainy surveillance images of a skinny young man in a cap and sunglasses walking in a stairwell on the Utah Valley University campus, and had asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspect.

Tagging Mr. Robinson’s username on Discord, a messaging platform, the acquaintance attached the images and wrote “wya” — where you at? — with a skull emoji, suggesting that Mr. Robinson, 22, looked like the man being sought. Mr. Robinson replied within a minute. His “doppelganger,” he wrote, was trying to “get me in trouble.” “Tyler killed Charlie!!!!” another user wrote, apparently in jest. That was on Thursday afternoon, around 1 p.m. local time. It was not until later that night, nearly 34 hours after the shooting, that Mr. Robinson was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the assassination of Mr. Kirk, 31, a conservative pundit whose killing has inflamed the political world.

The Discord messages were the clearest glimpse yet of the suspect’s demeanor in the hours after the killing. They were shared with The New York Times by someone who knew Mr. Robinson in high school and has kept up with him in the group chat — which includes about 20 people — but said he had not seen Mr. Robinson in person for several years. He spoke on the condition that his name not be used, fearing harassment for being an acquaintance of the suspect.

The Times independently verified that the person who shared the screenshots attended high school with Mr. Robinson, and found other indications that they knew one another. The screenshots were shared at the request of The Times. Discord declined to confirm Mr. Robinson’s username, but it matches several other accounts that he used elsewhere online.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/us/kirk-killing-suspect-online-chat.html?ref=oembed

---

No paywall (gift)

[58Sunliner]

6. Do you have any proof?

[Blues Heron]

2. Doesn't sound like a joke, sounds like mental illness, possibly schizophrenia

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. What indicates mental illness or schizoprehnia here?

[Blues Heron]

13. The murder

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. Does every murder indicate mental illness?

[Blues Heron]

18. In a sense, yes. Murder is a breakdown. This guy though, talked about his split personality- the doppelgnger

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. A doppelganger is not a split personality.

[Blues Heron]

20. It is if your doppelgnger just committed murder but it was actually you

I’m sure he’s perfectly normal though

[WhiskeyGrinder]

21. A doppelganger is someone who looks like you but isn't related. You cannot be your doppelganger

[Blues Heron]

22. That's awesome bro

[Goonch]

3. ;-{)

[wolfie001]

4. His younger brother sporting his "Virginity Rocks" hoodie

The f6cked up world these rePUKes fester in.

[Lovie777]

5. AI and grainy pictures....

videos, schools around the country need better cameras. Billions of dollars wasted in this administration.

[Farmer-Rick]

7. I got a wonder if Tyler would have killed Charlie

If Tyler's father had not trained his son so well at shooting and had weapons so readily available in the home. The family had shooting days on their vacations. The kid was well trained.

A well armed and trained murderer is more dangerous than one who has no access to weapons and is not trained on their marksmanship.

But then this is what Charlie wanted for everyone, access to lots of weapons, not necessarily trained well.

[paleotn]

8. Approaching 150 yards. A pretty good shot.

And what sick, demented nut job has "family shooting days" on vacations? I knew Utah, outside of Salt Lake, was a bit off kilter, but Jesus. That's a mental illness. Nothing more.

[LeftInTX]

10. I don't think Trump's shooter parents took him to the shooting range

I remember him hiding some of his shooting activities/purchases from his parents.

[wishstar]

14. There were 14 guns in the Crooks' home and father had sold Crooks the AR-15 he used

that's according to FBI director Wray. Crooks had joined a rifle club and when he took the AR-15 on morning of the shooting he had told his father he was going target practicing at the range. When he never returned home many hours after he should have come back, father contacted law enforcement after hearing about the shooting at rally and fearing it was his son.

[LeftInTX]

16. OK. I was wrong then.

[Username1234]

9. NYT: "...a conservative pundit whose killing has inflamed the political world."

Fixed: "... a conservative pundit whose killing was opportunistically used by the right to inflame the political world, only to later discover he was of their own homegrown Republican gun nuts."

[soldierant]

11. It was a little unnerving

to hear that a very right-winger even knew the word "doppelgänger" (even without the umlaut) - until I looked it up the check where the umlaut went and learned that, without it, the word also refers to a (presumably online) game.

[wishstar]

15. Several popular movies and TV shows have used doppelgnger reference, very common

but the flippant remarks allegedly made by Robinson after the shooting indicate someone out of touch/unconcerned with real world consequences of his actions. Not too surprising his world was dominated by online activity since he allegedly had spent thousands of hours gaming and countless more hours on internet chats with his bros.

[ReRe]

23. Come to think of it

I'd be very interested in hearing about Charlie Kirk in HIS younger days.