Utah AG Derek Brown discusses prosecuting suspect in Charlie Kirk killing, charges should be filed in ‘a day or two’

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Attorney General Derek Brown sat down with ABC4 to discuss what comes next now that a suspect is in custody in the killing of Charlie Kirk on UVU campus earlier this week. Brown indicated that charges should be filed against the suspect in the next few days.

This morning, Governor Spencer Cox announced that investigators had taken 22-year-old Tyler Robinson into custody, on suspicion shooting and killing conservative influencer Charlie Kirk at a speaking event on UVU campus on Wednesday.

Utah has been working with federal investigators on this case, including the FBI. Brown told ABC4.com that within an hour of the shooting on Wednesday, he was speaking with Governor Cox on the phone, who had spoken with President Trump, and they were also in contact with the Department of Justice.

“There’s always a question when you have a federal component and something that’s clearly also state, who’s in charge? Who’s running the show? And the answer is, we all agreed right up front, we’ll do this together,” he explained.

Brown said that it is the best of both worlds, where the state is engaged in prosecution with the aid of additional federal resources.

According to Brown, Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray will be moving forward with charges against Robinson, but there will likely also be federal charges filed against the suspect. What the specific charges will be is still not known at this time, Brown said.

“A lot of that is also fact dependent, and so we don’t have all the facts. We’ve only had a suspect in custody for a number of hours now, and so there are things that we’ll find out more information.”

Brown added that once a suspect is in custody, if they’re willing to cooperate, then investigators will be more likely to get access to their phone and the information that is on it much faster.

“Once we get that information, then we’ll be able to make a decision moving forward on what do those facts support in terms of state charges, federal charges, and then where do we go.”

Robinson is currently being held on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, and obstruction of justice, but Brown said that the actual charges could be different once they’re filed based on what investigators learn.

Brown said that official charges should be filed against Robinson in a day or two, as they are doing everything they can and moving as fast as they can to have criminal proceedings begin immediately. However, at the same time, he also stated that they are trying to balance the desire to have this done and over with as quickly as possible with being thorough and getting all the information.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox and President Trump have both indicated that the death penalty will be pursued in this case. Brown would not comment on that, but he said that everything is on the table, and they are considering all options.

“We’ve got the law enforcement doing their jobs, and I think the people of Utah are– the job of those who live in Utah is really just to think about what happened, and to understand that it’s like a collective trauma,” Brown said. “The reality is, when you have an event with 3,000 people where something like this happens, everybody knows someone who was there.”

Some of Brown’s family members and staff were at the event and witnessed it “up front and personal,” he said.

“I think our job really as a state is to work through this, understand what we can understand, and then those of us in law enforcement will continue to do our job of making sure that justice is served.”

Brown also indicated that there is a possibility that other people will be charged as accomplices in this case, but that will depend on the investigation and information they get.

He concluded by requesting that the public makes sure to get their information in this case from reliable sources. “A lot of information out there is just not accurate,” he said. “The reality is, when you have that kind of a very difficult situation, you’re bound to have misinformation.” He advised people to stay away from conspiracy theories and rely on reputable sources.