Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Charlie Kirk murder case

The adult male accused of assassinating conservativist activistic Charlie Kirk at a ut. University was supercharged on Tuesday with a number of criminal offences, including aggravated murder.

Prosecutors confirmed they will be seeking the death penalty for Tyler Robinson, 22, if he is convicted of killing Kirk last week at Utah Valley University.

Robinson, 22, also faces charges related to a firearms offence, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and committing a violent offence in the presence of a child. The last count relates to killing Kirk while children were present at the event, including near the stage.

Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty "based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime."

"I do not take this decision lightly and it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney," Gray told a news conference in announcing the charges on Tuesday.

Kirk, 31, was shot dead on Wednesday as he spoke with students on campus on Orem, about 64 kilometres south of Salt Lake City. Prosecutors have said Robinson shot Kirk in the neck with a bolt-action rifle from the roof of a nearby campus building.

Robinson was scheduled to appear on camera for a virtual court hearing Tuesday afternoon. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.

Gray said the accused is being held in county jail without bail.

Kirk, a dominant figure in conservative politics, became a confidant of U.S. President Donald Trump after co-founding Arizona-based Turning Point USA in 2012, one of the nation's largest political organizations. He brought young conservative evangelical Christians into politics. His killing has raised fears about increasing political violence in a deeply polarized United States.

Robinson was arrested late Thursday near St. George, the southern Utah community where he grew up.

Investigators have spoken to Robinson's relatives and carried out a search warrant at his family's home in Washington, Utah, about 390 kilometres southwest of where the shooting happened.

While authorities say Robinson hasn't been co-operating with investigators, they say his family and friends have been talking. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said over the weekend that those who know Robinson say his politics shifted left in recent years and he spent a lot of time in the "dark corners of the internet."

Investigators are working on finding a motive for the attack, Utah's governor said Sunday, adding that more information may come out once Robinson appears for his initial court hearing.

In the days since Kirk's assassination, Americans have found themselves facing questions about rising political violence, the deep divisions that brought the nation to this point and whether anything can change.

Despite calls for greater civility, some who opposed Kirk's provocative statements about gender, race and politics criticized him after his death. Many Republicans have led the push to punish anyone they believe dishonoured him, causing both public and private workers to lose their jobs or face other consequences at work.

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