PROVO: Prosecutors on Monday (Jul 6) began laying out their case that a Utah man should stand trial for last year’s killing of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist credited with energising young voters behind Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election.
In a packed Provo, Utah courtroom, Kirk‘s widow Erika Kirk sat feet away from Tyler Robinson, the man accused of driving four hours from his Utah town of Washington to murder Kirk, 31, on September 10, 2025. Members of Robinson’s family also were present. Robinson, wearing a grey jacket, sat between his lawyers, taking notes.
During the week-long preliminary hearing, the state prosecutors must convince District Court Judge Tony Graf that probable cause exists to believe that Robinson, 23, fired the single shot that killed Kirk in front of thousands of people in Orem, Utah.
Kirk, an influential US conservative, was appearing at Utah Valley University, 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake City, for one of his campus debates that drew crowds and propelled him to national prominence.
The first prosecution witness was Chris Bagley, an officer with the university’s police force on duty the day of the killing.
“He was answering a question, and then I heard a shot fired,” Bagley said, referring to Kirk.
Bagley said he had only a partial view of Kirk, who was sitting under a tent, and saw him lean to the left further out of his sight. Bagley said he heard an initial report, which turned out to be mistaken, that a suspect had been taken into custody.
Bagley said he later ran to another campus building from where he believed the shot had come, went up four flights of stairs to the roof, where he found a screwdriver, a photograph of which was entered into evidence.
Prosecutors are expected to show graphic video of the killing, and Kirk‘s family may leave the courtroom when some evidence is presented, according to a person familiar with the situation.