Utah shooting suspect has left-leaning beliefs, says governor

The suspect in the killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk had left-leaning political beliefs and was in a relationship with a person "transitioning from male to female", the Utah governor, Spencer Cox, said yesterday.

- Ramon Antonio Vargas Anna Betts

The Republican politician said investigators were not ready to discuss the motive behind the killing of Kirk, a critic of gay and transgender rights who was shot from a distance with a rifle during an event at Utah Valley University last Wednesday.

In comments to NBC, Cox said the suspect, Tyler Robinson, 22, was not cooperating with authorities, but officials were gathering information from family members and people around him.

Cox said information gathered by investigators showed Robinson "does come from a conservative family - but his ideology was very different than his family". Citing interviews with people close to Robinson, Cox said "we do know that the [suspect's] roommate is a [partner] who is transitioning from male to female.

"That person has been very cooperative with authorities," Cox said.

"We're all drawing lots of conclusions on how someone like this could be radicalized. And I think that those are important questions for us to ask."