He wore train-track braces and a teenager’s awkward smile, but suspected assassin Tyler Robinson could not be more ‘handsome’ and ‘wonderful’ in the eyes of his mother and grandmother.
Between them, proud Amber Robinson, who worked with disabled youngsters, and her mother-in-law Debbie posted dozens of photos of the young man they doted on, along with his two younger brothers.
Today, this once-gawky teenager is, according to US officials, the hate-filled extremist who this week became America’s most wanted man – with President Donald Trump already demanding he be executed by the state.
He went from being ‘interested’ in politics to being apparently obsessed by it – somehow transformed from an ordinary son in the family’s $600,000 six-bedroom home in Washington, Utah, about 260 miles south of where Charlie Kirk was murdered, into one of the most notorious characters in US history, according to US officials.
According to officials last night, Robinson had allegedly said during a recent dinner that ‘Charlie Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate’.
Among shocked neighbours, Kristin Schwiermann, 66, said he was ‘very respectful and quiet’ and ‘had friends’, adding: ‘He was smart. He’s from a very loving family.
‘I love his mother, and he’s from a hard-working family.’
His family’s Facebook albums are bursting with ordinary, smiling family snaps. There is one on Robinson’s mother’s Facebook showing her beaming as she manages to grab her teenager to pose together for a portrait. It was 2018, when he was 15.
The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination has been identified as Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident
Robinson has two younger brothers, and lives in a $600,000 six-bedroom home in Washington, Utah – about 260 miles south of Kirk’s assassination site in Orem
Last night, someone has added the comment: ‘Murderer! Your life is over. Judgment day is coming.’
Alongside one photo of three brothers posing by a waterfall, their grandmother Debbie Robinson wrote: ‘How lucky I am to have such handsome grandsons.’
Yet in the hours since Robinson was arrested by the FBI, outraged members of the public have been able to add a stream of comments to the family album, such as, ‘Learn how to parent and maybe your son wouldn’t have done that!’
On one picture of teenager Robinson next to the Grand Canyon, a Facebook user named Travis has added the comment: ‘Shoulda jumped’.
And to a camping photo of Tyler with a dog, snapped in 2018, someone has now written: ‘Poor dog, no idea he has a maniac standing behind him.’
Robinson was taken into custody on Thursday night in southern Utah after having allegedly confessed to his father, who persuaded him to turn himself in with the help of a local youth pastor.
Tyler’s father recognised him from images released by authorities and encouraged him to turn himself in, a law enforcement official revealed.
Alongside the ‘happy family’ snaps, there are plenty that reveal his love of high-powered machine guns. In one image from when Robinson appeared to be a teenager, he was seen posing with an M2 Browning .50-calibre machine gun, another showed him posing with a scoped rifle. In another, he was holding a bazooka.
In one image from Robinson’s mother’s social media from 2017, he was seen wearing a Donald Trump costume to Halloween
Other images also show Robinson using guns in his childhood, including one where he was posing with an M2 Browning 50. calibre machine gun
Facebook posts from his mother showed Robinson and his two younger brothers at gun ranges and military events. In one post, Amber was seen holding a US army machine gun.
One picture of the son whom Amber called her ‘man child’, showed them dropping him off at university – apparently wearing the same trainers as in the FBI ‘wanted’ pictures.
He attended Utah State University for one semester in 2021, according to a university spokesman, before dropping out and moving back home to complete an electrical apprenticeship programme at Dixie Technical College.
His mother wrote she was hoping ‘he’ll pick a Utah college and stay close to mamma’, adding: ‘His options are endless!’
Last night Mr Trump said: ‘I hope he’s going to be found guilty, and I hope he gets the death penalty.’
