“The State’s evidence shows that the presumed shooter was on the Losee Center roof, in a ‘prone’ position, for approximately 35-44 seconds before firing their weapon once.”
The defense representing Tyler Robinson, the man charged with killing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in a shooting at Utah Valley University in 2025, has admitted in a new filing that evidence presented by state prosecutors in July’s preliminary hearing shows a shooter was on top of the Losee Center that day, firing a weapon.
The filing stated, “the State’s evidence shows that the presumed shooter was on the Losee Center roof, in a ‘prone’ position, for approximately 35-44 seconds before firing their weapon once,” referencing surveillance footage shown during the hearing from Utah Valley University’s campus.
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/2087545473997422904?s=20
The defense also said that evidence presented showed the bullet fired “traveled at a downward angle and hit Mr. Kirk in the left side of his neck.”
The admissions came in a section of the filing in which the defense claimed that the state “makes little effort to distinguish between the evidence it presented and inferences it asks this Court to make based upon that evidence.”
The defense also wrote that video surveillance footage shown by the state “shows Mr. Robinson walking up and down stairs at UVU with a gait impaired by something long in his pant leg—the reasonable inference from the evidence provided is that it was a fully assembled rifle.”
The defense said that the state has asked the court to make a finding that the shooter “knowingly created a ‘high probability of a grave risk of death’ based upon speculation that is not supported by the evidence.”
The speculations the state has made, the defense said, include, “That the shooter actually observed security personnel standing an unknown distance from Mr. Kirk;” "That the shooter may have known that there were people behind the pop-up tent when the single shot was fired, although the State’s evidence actually shows otherwise;” "That the shooter knew that they may strike someone other than the intended target because there were four cartridges found in the rifle;” "That the shooter knew that they may strike someone other than the intended target because targets with bullet holes in them were recovered from Mr. Robinson’s shared apartment;” “That the shooter knew they may strike someone other than the intended target because the rifle may have been taken apart and put back together.”
The filing argued that the state had not established probable cause for the aggravating factor that Robinson “knowingly created a great risk of death to another other than Charlie Kirk and the defendant.”
Robinson defense probable cause filing by Hannah Nightingale
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