in Washington, Utah

Roy Corey, retired and in his 70s, was watering his marigolds on Friday morning in a neighborhood not far from the family home of Tyler Robinson, who was arrested in connection with the killing of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and influencer.

Corey moved to Utah and feels at home there because his wife and him are “patriots and Christians”. He has no relation to the Robinsons, but has been fielding visits all day – from local law enforcement, reporters and two people who said they were with a collections agency – because he lives in a house formerly owned by a Robinson relative.

Corey seemed amused by the coincidence, but saddened by Kirk’s death. He sees it as part of a broader pattern.

“Regardless of if Charlie got shot or not, it’s increasing,” Corey said.

in Washington, Utah

Miles Meloni, 14, lives in the same neighborhood as the Robinsons. Meloni followed Kirk, and feels “great sorrow” for the Robinson and Kirk families.

Meloni is alarmed by political violence in the country he is coming of age in.

“I want to see a change,” Meloni said. “I think for people like this, if the family sees any progression towards this view, that they need to hurt people, that they need to have their child, family member, friends, anybody, seek help.”

He hopes this doesn’t skew people’s perception of the state he calls home.

“It’s just not something you think would happen here,” Meloni said. “Don’t let this taint your view on Utah.”

In a phone interview on Friday, one of Tyler Robinson’s high school friends, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the suspect was “pretty left on everything” and was “the only member of his family that was really leftist”.

“The rest of his family was very hard Republican,” the friend said.

Around sophomore year, the friend said, Robinson became more extreme in his political views and would “always just be ranting and arguing about them”.

The friend said that they played video games together a lot in high school and noted that the bullet engraving with the arrows was a reference to Helldivers 2 – which we mentioned earlier. He said that the arrows specifically were in reference to “calling in a big bomb that exists” in the game “called the 500 kilogram”.

When the friend saw the news on Friday, he said that he was shocked. “I knew he [Robinson] had strong political views, but I never thought it would even go near that far.”

The Verge has been reporting on the engravings of several bullet casings found by the shooter’s weapon at Utah Valley University.

They report that that one of them, which reads “Hey fascist! Catch!” – followed by up arrow, right arrow and three down arrow symbols – is noteworthy because it’s the “combination sequence for calling the Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem” in the video game Helldivers 2.

The third-person shooter game features soldiers who are tasked with trying to fight alien-like creatures that have taken over in the name of “democracy”.

References to “O Bella Ciao” (another engraving on one of the bullet casings) is referenced in the video game too.

As of now, law enforcement officials have not confirmed this link.

Republican lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna, of Florida, has warned colleges and universities across the US that Congress is “watching closely” to see which institutions take “the right action by firing professors who celebrated the murder of Charlie Kirk or circulated videos glorifying his assassination”.

The Maga firebrand, and Trump loyalist, also said that that “any university that refuses to do the right thing will be cut off from all federal funding”.

in Washington, Utah

The sunny, winding streets near the Robinson residence were already crowded on Thursday morning with law enforcement vehicles, marked and unmarked, as well as a neat row of media cameras.

The quiet neighborhood is like many others in the sun-baked city of 35,000, which lies in the middle of the red rock and sagebrush mesas of the Utah/Arizona borderlands.

Melissa Tait, 55, and a mother of four, lives just down the street from the Robinson house, and said they were “just like any other neighbor”, and that they were “no different than my family”.

Tait expressed sympathy for the family, and gratitude that they turned their son in.

“Unfortunately, their son made a really bad decision,” Tait said.

One neighbor who lives across the street from the Robinsons, declined to be named. He said he’s “blind to the world”, and only learned about Robinson’s arrest when he saw reporters and law enforcement in the street this morning.

He was agnostic about the massive media presence on his street. “Mother nature is mother nature, whatever she calls to do, let’s do it,” he said.

And was similarly accepting when asked about Robinson, the subject of a massive 48-hour search, living just across the street.

“If it’s close to home, if it’s 50 miles from me, it’s the same damn thing,” he said. “Shit happens and that’s what it is.”

Earlier today, Utah governor Spencer Cox said that investigators found several messages they believe Tyler Robinson sent via Discord – the messaging app frequently used by gamers – about the shooting at Utah Valley University, where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot.

Officials said that Robinson’s roommate showed them the messages.

Cox said that the contact, named ‘Tyler’ discussed the following details on the app:

• A need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point.

• Leaving the rifle in a bush.

• Messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left.

• A message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel.

• A message that referred to engraving bullets, and a mention of a scope and the rifle being unique.

• Messages from Robinson which also mentioned that he had changed outfits.

A Discord spokesperson told the Guardian that throughout the course of their own investigation they found an account associated with the suspect. However, they “have found no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord”.

The spokesperson added that:

The messages referenced in recent reporting about planning details do not appear to be Discord messages. These were communications between the suspect’s roommate and a friend after the shooting, where the roommate was recounting the contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere.

Discord said they have removed the suspect’s account and “will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement”, expressing sympathy to the Kirk family and all those affected.

In London, dozens have gathered on Whitehall – the heart of the UK government – to hold a vigil in Kirk’s memory.

People wore Union flags, as well as Make America Great Again hats. And one flew a flag depicting Donald Trump and bearing the words “fight fight fight”.

Attached to railings near the statue of Field Marshall Montgomery was a large union flag that bore the words: “Psalm 125:3: For the scepter of wickedness will not rest on the land allotted the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.”

in Washington, Utah

Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old lead suspect in Charlie Kirk’s killing, has a family residence in Washington, Utah, according public records – a small city located not far from the Arizona border and about 260 miles from where Kirk was killed in Orem.

Walter Williams, a neighbor who has lived in the same neighborhood as the family for four years, expressed surprise when he heard the news.

“I honestly didn’t know he lived here,” said Williams, 33, in an interview from the suburban streets of Washington. He called the neighborhood a “safe place”.

“Everybody knows each other, and takes care of each other,” he said.

Reflecting on America’s political division, Williams said that as a member of the Mormon church, he liked a lot of what Kirk said, but that he also respected everyone’s right to their own views.

“I know everybody has their own opinions, that’s totally fine. That’s what the US is about,” Williams said. “Having different opinions and not forcing that on each other, not taking it out on each other. We can have an open dialogue and respect each other for our own opinions because we’re all different and that’s the beauty of being human.”

• After nearly two days of searching, authorities announced today that they have arrested a suspect in connection with the shooting and killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, at a speaking event at Utah Valley University (UVU) on Wednesday. Tyler Robinson, 22, is now in custody at Utah County Jail.

• According to surveillance footage, authorities say that Robinson was seen arriving at the UVU campus on Wednesday in a Dodge Challenger.

• FBI director Kash Patel said that Robinson was ultimately arrested in Washington County – which sits in the southwest corner of the state – at around 10pm local time on Thursday 11 September.

• At a press conference earlier, governor Spencer Cox said that Robinson’s family friend turned him in, and told officers that Robinson “confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident”. Cox also said that a family member that investigators interviewed described Robinson as becoming “more political in recent years” and was aware that Kirk was due to speak at UVU.

• The weapon used was identified as a high-action bolt rifle, and Cox noted that several bullet casings were found at the scene of the crime. One of three unfired casings read “Hey fascist! Catch!”, a second read “Oh Bella Ciao” (which is the name of an anti-fascist Italian anthem), and a third casing had the following engraved: “If you read this, you are gay, LMAO”.

• Robinson has not been formally charged yet. Officials today said they have three days to prepare those documents, which will likely be filed early next week. According to court records obtained by CNN, Robinson is being held without bail on several initial charges, including aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, and obstruction of justice.

• A Utah Valley University spokesperson confirmed today that Robinson is a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College. He also briefly attended Utah State University.

• Donald Trump was the first to break the news of the investigation’s development. He announced “with a high degree of certainty” that law enforcement had arrested a suspect in an interview with Fox News earlier today.

Neighbor of suspect’s family describes accused as ‘respectful and quiet’

Anna Betts

Kristin Schwiermann, 66, a neighbor of the Robinson family, told the Guardian that Robinson was “very respectful and quiet” and “had friends.”

“He was smart” she said, and “aced his ACTs and got a full ride at university.”

“He’s from a very loving family” she said. “I love his mother, and he’s just a hard working family.”

The news, she added, “shocked the crap out of me, because we live in a very nice neighborhood, a very quiet neighborhood, we all know each other, and this just really just shocked me.”

“I didn’t think he would have done this” she said.