Messages Revealed: Suspected Charlie Kirk Assassin Joked His “Doppelganger” Did It

We need the FBI to release all of the Discord messages from suspected assassin Tyler Robinson.

The New York Times has just reported the last messages suspected killer Tyler Robinson sent on Discord shortly before he was arrested for the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

In the messages, a friend of Robinson attached the FBI wanted photos of Robinson and asked “WYA” (Where you at?).

Robinson responded, his “doppelganger” is going to get him in “trouble.”

The New York Times broke the story and shared excerpts of the messages on Discord:

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.

The suspect is expected to be formally charged by local prosecutors on Tuesday. It was not clear on Saturday if he had a lawyer.

The messages do not shed light on a possible motivation for the shooting, which has been fiercely debated by people trying to ascribe blame to a political side. A police officer wrote in an affidavit that Mr. Robinson had recently discussed Mr. Kirk’s upcoming event in Utah with a family member, and that the two had “talked about why they didn’t like him.”

People who knew Mr. Robinson over the years said that he was extremely intelligent, followed current events, and spent much of his time online or playing video games. He was registered to vote but was not affiliated with a political party and appeared to have never voted in an election; his parents are both registered Republicans.

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After Mr. Robinson joked that the gunman was his look-alike, another user suggested that the group could turn Mr. Robinson in and get the $100,000 reward that the F.B.I. was offering.

“Only if I get a cut,” Mr. Robinson responded.
Someone posted, “Whatever you do, don’t go to a mcdonalds anytime soon,” a reference to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who was found at a McDonald’s restaurant and charged with the killing of a health insurance chief executive in Manhattan.

Mr. Robinson agreed and offered a supposed joke of his own, writing “better also get rid of this manifesto and exact copy rifle I have lying around.”

Take a look:

“He showed no sign of remorse in screenshots of the Discord chat shared by a former high school classmate. 
In fact, Robinson appeared to revel in the attention, exchanging meme-laced jabs with acquaintances while authorities scrambled to find the person responsible.

'Tyler… pic.twitter.com/4OtOCHkiXA

— Laura Love (@Panopticonomy) September 14, 2025

The New York Post reported one person in the Discord chat had a hard time figuring out if this was just a joke or for real:

Robinson is accused of firing the fatal shot at the married father of two young children, who was seated under a pop-up tent while speaking to thousands on the first stop of his “American Comeback Tour.”

The alleged killer turned himself in to the authorities Thursday night in Southwestern Utah – a more than three hour drive from the Orem campus – after being confronted by his own father and speaking with a youth minister about the shooting, law enforcement sources said.

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After his arrest, his friends on Discord were in disbelief that he was the real killer, with one noting that officials want him to face the death penalty for the public and savage slaying, the outlet reported.

“I truly cannot distinguish if this is for real,” another said.