When this form of hate-inducing and illustrious violence is normalized, it only ends up generating more physical violence in the real world.

Taylor Robinson Life Photo

Text | Sister Bing

According to CNN, on September 12, local time, the suspect previously detained for the shooting of Charlie Kirk was confirmed, belonging to a 22-year-old man from Utah, named Tyler Robinson, informed that the suspect confessed to his father that he was the gunman and his father called the police after the police took him away.

Robinson, a native of Utah, lives in a neighborhood of the city of St. George in the southwestern corner of the state, a three-and-a-half-hour drive from where he was suspected of shooting Kirk, Utah Valley University.

People are trying to understand why this ¡°model youth¡± who entered college with an average of 4.0 and received a $3,2,000 presidential scholarship, ended Charlie Kirk¡¯s life and became the latest face of American political violence.

Taylor Robinson was arrested.

The exemplary students

Taylor Robinson's growth trajectory was once a "successful model" for conservative families in southern Utah.

The Robinson Five.

According to public information, Robinson was born in a middle-aged family in Washington, Utah. His father, Matt Robinson, was a 27 year old police officer at Washington County Police Department in Utah. His mother, Amber Robinson, worked in an interstate support coordination service company to help people with disabilities access care services. His parents were both registered Republicans and had two brothers at home.

The Robinson family lives in a six-bedroom house worth $600,000.The family often shares photos of campings, fishing and holidays on social media, and the mother says he loves leather, carries guns, worships the cowboy spirit, and has proudly praised his son for his genius.

Robinson's academic performance is indeed remarkable: he always achieved excellent results from primary to high school, and his high school grade point average (GPA) is as high as 4.0. In August 2020, in celebration of his upcoming senior year career, his mother announced on social media that he had taken four college-level courses as well as college-preliminary course Calculus.

In 2021, he scored a good score of 34 out of 36 on the ACT, was admitted to Utah State University, majoring in preparatory engineering, and received a presidential scholarship of $32,000. Classmates described him as "elegant, decent and outstanding in leadership" and even predicted that he would become a "CEO or businessman". However, after only one semester, he suddenly dropped out of school. It is reported that he is currently a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in Utah, which is 3.5 hours' drive from Utah Valley University where the incident happened.

Originally, his circle of friends was full of positive and healthy images, taking selfies with bright smiles and sharing warm family time. Gradually, he gradually revealed radical political tendencies.

After dropping out of school, Robinson gradually broke away from the mainstream society. Neighbors said that he was withdrawn and never talked to anyone. He is addicted to the Internet, likes shooting games such as Halo and Call of Duty, and gradually interweaves his interest in firearms with extreme ideology. Robinson often hangs out around designated areas of the Junior ROTC with other students interested in military programs.

Teenager with a gun

The fact that Robinson was able to hit a target at a distance of 200 meters was no coincidence.

The family has a strong gun tradition.In his youth, he also received a whole set of guns as a Christmas gift.

In the context of the common shooting culture and family training in the U.S. countryside, he mastered the weapons skills of far beyond the ordinary.

On Halloween 2017, Robinson¡¯s mother, Ampère, posted a photo on social media showing 14-year-old Robinson wearing a ¡°Trump¡± heavy-duty doll costume, as if riding on it.

Robinson's Halloween Costume

Utah Governor Spencer Cox revealed at a press conference on Friday that investigators learned from his family population that Robinson has recently become ¡°extremely politically enthusiastic¡± and has clearly expressed his disgust for Trump¡¯s political ally Charlie Kirk, calling it ¡°full of hatred.¡±

Father's death may be punishable by death.

After Robinson was suspected of shooting Kirk at a rally at Utah Valley University on September 10th, his father confessed the facts of the crime to his family after seeing the photos of the suspect released by the FBI. Robinson once refused to surrender himself, and even told his father that he would rather commit suicide than surrender himself. But his father told him that surrendering himself was his only way out.

In the end, the father, Matt Robinson, invited a pastor friend to convince his son. Robinson was taken into custody in southern Utah around 11 p.m. Thursday and will appear in court next Tuesday.

According to police disclosures, Robinson posted on Discord (a communications software widely used for games and interest communities) that he needed to retrieve a gun from a ¡°delivery point¡± and described how to wrap the gun with a towel and hide it in the bushes.

Robinson's crime diagram

The monitoring released by the police showed a man galloping past the roof and then fleeing into the woods. Investigators found a powerful rifle in the forest area with traces of suspected suspects on it.

At present, Robinson is detained in a Utah County prison without bail. Court documents show that Robinson has no record of minor or serious crimes before. But this time he will be charged with aggravating murder, using guns to cause serious injuries and hindering justice. Prosecutors said he could face the death penalty if he was found guilty.

The "dark turning point" of political awakening

Robinson was once a sunshine boy

Robinson¡¯s political shift was full of contradictions.Al his parents were both Republicans, he claimed to be ¡°non-partisan¡± and never participated in voting.

His family revealed that Robinson¡¯s political tendencies have intensified in recent years, ¡°he also mentioned Charlie Kirk at dinner the night before the shooting.¡± According to his family¡¯s memories, they also discussed why people didn¡¯t like Charlie Kirk and his views. Robinson thought he was ¡°filled with hatred and spreading hatred¡± and discussed the consequences of the assassination in a dark web chat room.

The investigation found that Robinson¡¯s violence was not temporary, he planned several weeks in advance and even hid a rifle in his apartment and communicated with the outside world through encryption.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox revealed at a conference that Robinson has become more ¡°political¡±

It is worth noting that the police found a shell case engraved with words on the murder rifle, further confirming that the motive of the case involved political hatred. One of the fired cartridges read notices bulges OWO what's this? (Notice the raised OWO what is this?) (Note: OWO is an online emoji, suggesting its playful attitude towards the trans community); The other three unfired shell casings are engraved with hey fascist! catch! (Hey, fascist! Take it!) with arrow symbols, oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao (lyrics to the Italian anti-fascist song "Goodbye, Girl" during World War II), and if you read this you are gay lmao (if you see this sentence, you are gay, hahaha).

It can be said that these words are filled with provocation and irony.

From "presidential scholarship winner" to "political gunman", the former schoolmaster turned out to be a murderer. The key point is that this "political assassin" did not come from the left-wing camp as usually imagined, but came from a typical Republican, Christian and gun-owning family-the reversal of this identity is shocking.

However, Robinson's case is by no means an isolated case. In recent years, political violence has occurred frequently in the United States. A statistic shows that since the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021, there have been more than 300 politically motivated violent incidents in the United States. From the two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024, to the murder of a Minnesota Democratic congressman and his wife in June of the same year, to Kirk's death this time, the shadow of violence is hanging over the heads of different political factions indiscriminately.

A gunman, Charlie Kirk, was killed by a gun, leaving behind a young couple of daughters.

Whether it is the Proud Boys, a far-right neo-fascist organization that promotes and participates in political violence, or Antifa, a left-wing organization that uses violent means to resist fascism and racism, their opinions are completely different, but their behaviors show striking similarities: they all tend to "dehumanize" their political opponents and believe that violence is a reasonable means to achieve their goals.

When classrooms become the battlefield of political propaganda, and when games become the tool of violent enlightenment, is American society nurturing a generation of children to solve problems with hatred?

When this kind of verbal violence that incites hatred and beautifies violence is normalized, it will only give birth to more physical violence in the real world in the end.

One can't help but ask: Who is the next Robinson?

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