Utah governor: Kirk shooting suspect not cooperating with authorities

The man arrested in the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk is not cooperating with authorities, but investigators are working to establish a motive for the shooting by talking to his friends and family, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said on Sunday.

Cox said the accused gunman, Tyler Robinson, 22, would be formally charged on Tuesday. He remains in custody in Utah.

Kirk, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and co-founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was killed by a single rifle shot during an event attended by 3,000 people in Orem, about 65 kilometers south of Salt Lake City.

Robinson has not confessed to investigators, Cox told the ABC program "This Week."

"He is not cooperating, but all the people around him were cooperating, and I think that's very important," the Republican governor said.

One person who is apparently talking to investigators is Robinson's roommate, who was also a romantic partner, Cox said, citing the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cox described the roommate as "a male transitioning to female," and said the roommate has been "incredibly cooperative."

Asked on CNN's State of the Union program whether the roommate's gender identity is relevant to the investigation, Cox said: "That's what we're trying to figure out right now. It's easy to draw conclusions from that, and so we've got the shell casings, other forensic evidence that is coming in – and trying to piece all of those things together."

Kirk's charged rhetoric, which often involved anti-LGBT and anti-immigrant comments, attracted legions of conservatives, but also engendered strong feelings from liberals and drew widespread criticism.

While Robinson was raised by religious parents in a deeply conservative region of the state, "his ideology was very different than his family," Cox said on Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press program, without going into specifics.

State records show Robinson was a registered voter but not affiliated with any political party. A relative told investigators that Robinson had grown more political in recent years and had once discussed with another family member their dislike for Kirk and his viewpoints, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Robinson was "not a fan" of Kirk's, Cox said on Sunday.

The killing has stirred outrage among Kirk's supporters and condemnation of political violence from some across the ideological spectrum.

On Meet the Press, Cox assigned some blame to social media, saying it has "played a direct role in every single assassination and assassination attempt that we have seen over the last five, six years."

A memorial event for Kirk will be held on September 21 in Glendale, Arizona, his organization said.

(With input from Reuters)