Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - After Charlie Kirk’s Murder, Suspect Joked That His Look Alike Did It| Crime Alert 6AM 09.15.25

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

Discord messages provide a revealing look into Tyler Robinson's mindset shortly after he allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk. An actor was arrested for shooting a woman in the face after a road rage incident.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Crime alert. I'm Nancy Grace, breaking crime news now. Straight out to Nicole Parton for the latest. Nancy Utah Governor Spencer Cox stated on Sunday that investigators are still unable to disclose the motive behind the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk. Cox revealed that the suspect identified as Tyler Robinson, 22, holds a left-wing political belief and harbored animosity toward Kirk due to his conservative stance. He noted that Robinson is currently uncooperative while in custody. Clearly, we see a leftist ideology at play. Cox commented during an interview with NBC's Meet the Press. He elaborated in a separate discussion on CNN's State of the Union, mentioning that insights about the suspect's views were gathered from his acquaintances and family.

We do know, and again, this has been well publicized, but this was a very normal young man, a very, a very smart young man, Foro student, I think a 34 on the ACT, went to my alma mater, Utah State University, but was only there for a very short amount of time. I dropped out after less than one semester. And it seemed to happen kind of after that,

after he had moved back to the southern part of Utah. Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep. And you saw that on the casings. I think, I mean, I didn't have any idea what those inscriptions, many of those inscriptions even meant, but they are, you know, certainly the memeification that is happening in our society today. Cox described Robinson as someone who has become radicalized, spending time in various online

communities. According to him, quote, there has been significant engagement with online gaming and the darker corners of the internet, with friends indicating that he was involved in communities associated with Reddit and similar platforms. The investigation is ongoing to uncover the motive behind the attack that resulted in Kirk's death as he spoke at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Cox also acknowledged reports about the suspect's partner being transgender, which some politicians have suggested could relate to Robinson's motive against Kirk's anti-transsentiments. Nevertheless, authorities have not confirmed the relevance of this information to their investigation. Cox stated, quote, the roommate was a romantic partner transitioning from male to female and emphasized

that this partner has been cooperating with law enforcement. and was unaware of the impending attack. Investigators have engaged with Robinson's family and executed a search warrant at their residence in Washington, located approximately 240 miles from the university. While Robinson is registered to vote, he is not affiliated with any political party and is marked as inactive,

indicating he did not participate in the last two elections. His parents, by contrast, are registered Republicans. The day following Kirk's, assassination and acquaintance of Robinson reached out to him in a group chat. The FBI had just released surveillance footage of a slim young man wearing a cap and sunglasses seeking help from the public to identify the suspect. In response to being tagged in the chat with the images, Robinson quickly replied, joking that the person in the video was trying to, quote,

get me in trouble. He looks like me. This exchange occurred on Thursday afternoon, and it wasn't until late that. night nearly 34 hours after the shooting that Robinson was arrested on suspicion of being responsible for Kirk's assassination. The discord messages provide a revealing look into Robinson's mindset shortly after the incident. These messages were shared with the New York Times by a former high school acquaintance who has remained in contact with him through the group chat, which includes about 20 members. The source requested to remain anonymous to avoid backlash from being linked to Robinson. The Times confirmed the acquaintances high school connection to Robinson. The screenshots

were provided at the Times request, while Discord did not verify Robinson's username. It aligns with other accounts he has used online. Former friends described Robinson as highly intelligent, engaged with current events, and spending significant time online or gaming. After Robinson joked about the resemblance to the gunman, another chat member suggested they could report him to collect the $100,000 reward offered by the FBI. At that time, several media sources reported that the ammunition found at the scene contained engravings related to transgender ideology. In reality, the engravings included phrases like lyrics from an anti-fascist Italian folk song

and a reference to a sexual meme. Before the exact details of the engravings were made public, Robinson communicated that he was closely monitoring the news. He said, I heard the ammo had something about trans stuff on it, but they aren't releasing photos or exact quotes, he noted, adding, and also the claim wasn't backed by the official FBI, some dude in a briefing room. That's all, he said. After Robinson's arrest on Thursday night, members of the Discord chat expressed disbelief over the accusations against him. One said, our governor wants to give him the death penalty. Another remarked, I truly can't distinguish if this is real or not. Robinson remains in custody and is expected to appear in court on Tuesday, according to the Utah governor. Nicole, thank you. More crime and justice news after this. An actor was taken into custody after allegedly shooting a woman in the face during a road rage confrontation at a red light.

The incident prompted a lockdown in the surrounding area that lasted several hours. According to New Jersey police, they responded to the scene just after 1 p.m. following reports of road rage that resulted in a woman sustaining gunshot wounds to her face. Despite her injuries, she was able to communicate with police and provided details about a suspect identified as 46-year-old Ernest Hines. She described how Hines cut her off while she was merging, and once they reached the traffic light, he allegedly shouted threats at her and brandished. a handgun. He then fired at her face. Hines, who police confirmed as an actor, reportedly fled onto the grounds of Stockton University, leading to a shelter-in-place order for several hours. He was later arrested at a nearby residence and faces charges, including attempted murder and aggravated assault. Our suspect remained silent throughout the process, stated Captain

D. Esposoto. However, he fit the description, and we have numerous pieces of evidence linking this man to the crime. Heinz's IMDB profile notes his appearances in films such as Ricky, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, and most recently he starred in a film with Leonardo DiCaprio. For the latest, Crime and Justice News, go to crimeonline.com, and please join us for our daily podcast, crime stories, where we do our best to find missing people, especially children, and help solve unsolved homicides. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an IHeart podcast.