DNA on a towel wrapped around the suspected gun used to kill Charlie Kirk has been matched to the suspect in custody, the director of the FBI said on Monday.
Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested over the death of the right-wing influencer at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. A bolt-action rifle was recovered near the shooting, and a screwdriver was found on the roof from where the fatal shot was fired.
“I can report today that the DNA hits from the towel that was wrapped around the firearm and the DNA on the screwdriver are positively processed for the suspect in custody,” Kash Patel told Fox and Friends.
A formal charge is expected this week. A motive has yet to be determined.
The FBI director also referenced a note that was discovered at the suspect’s home, which vowed to “take out” Kirk.
It’s “basically saying… ‘I have the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk’, and I’m going to take it that note was written before the shooting,” said Patel.
He added, “even though it has been destroyed, we have found forensic evidence of the note”.
Investigators are also looking at social media accounts used by Mr Robinson, according to the BBC’s US news partner CBS, and any signs that anyone may have known about or encouraged the shooting beforehand.
According to a Utah County Sheriff inmate booking sheet obtained by the BBC, Mr Robinson is accused of aggravated murder, obstruction of justice, and felony discharge of a firearm.
The breakthrough comes after the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, said on Sunday that Mr Robinson – who had been persuaded to surrender by his father – had been refusing to co-operate with investigators and had not confessed to carrying out the shooting.
Cox added that Mr Robinson’s roommate and partner had been helping with the investigation.
Vice-President JD Vance on Monday hosted a tribute episode of Kirk’s daily podcast from the White House, speaking with conservative personalities and Trump administration staffers to remember the youth leader – a long-time ally of the president.
“One of Charlie’s gifts was not talking at you, but engaging you where you were,” White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vance.
The vice-president, a close friend of Kirk’s, also spoke directly to the audience, slamming criticism of Kirk following his death and claiming “people on the left are much likelier to defend and celebrate political violence”.
“I’m desperate for our country to be united in condemnation of the actions and the ideas that killed my friend,” Vance said, but “there is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and there is no unity with the people… who pay the salaries of these terrorist sympathisers”.
Vance said the administration would “work to dismantle the institutions that promote violence and terrorism in our own country”, echoing earlier podcast remarks from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
“The last message that Charlie sent me was… that we need to have an organised strategy to go after the left-wing organisations that are promoting violence in this country”, Miller told Vance.
He said the government will “uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks” that Miller claimed “led to this assassination”.
Kirk grew to national prominence as a polarising figure in the US after helping found Turning Point USA, a right-wing youth political group, and used his audiences online to build support for often controversial talking points.
The father-of-two had been participating in the American Comeback Tour, visiting several college campuses across the US to debate college students when he was shot.
Patel has been heavily criticised for his actions in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, including having announced the arrest of a suspect a few hours after the shooting. Two hours later, he confirmed that that person had been released.
“Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment? Sure. But do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not,” he said on Monday on Fox News.
Patel is expected to face questions at a hearing in Congress on Tuesday.
