Tyler Robinson allegedly confessed to ex-roommate and lover after Charlie Kirk shooting

Tyler Robinson's family could be seen leaving court on Thursday afternoon after day 4 of his preliminary hearing concluded.

During the hearing Thursday, Tyler Robinson's mother could be seen crying when alleged text messages between her son and Lance Twiggs were shown.

Tyler Robinson's defense team could be seen leaving court after day 4 of the preliminary hearing.

One of Robinson's defense attorneys, Michael Burt, accused Erika Kirk's lawyer of wasting the court's time on Thursday and said the "court has to return to the purpose of these hearings."

Charlie Kirk's parents were seen leaving court after day 4 of Tyler Robinson's preliminary hearing.

A judge denied a motion from Erika Kirk's attorney seeking to have all evidence in the preliminary hearing presented in open court.

"The court has considered the request that exhibits be displayed in real time to the courtroom. After careful consideration, the court determines that not all exhibits will be visually displayed to the gallery and notes that it will use a tiered method as described first, whether it will be admitted to the court for consideration as it relates to probable cause. Second, whether it will be displayed only to the gallery, and third, if it will be published through the camera, to the public at large," Graf said.

Tyler Robinson’s defense team said it has one more witness to call when testimony resumes Friday for the fifth day of his preliminary hearing in the Charlie Kirk assassination case. Prosecutors said they do not expect to call any rebuttal witnesses.

The fourth day of the weeklong hearing concluded around 5:30 p.m. local time Thursday, which included the court hearing from Robinson’s former roommate and lover, Lance Twiggs, for the first time. Prosecutors played a recorded interview that law enforcement had previously conducted with Twiggs after the shooting.

Before court was adjourned Thursday, there was debate between the defense and Kirk family lawyer Jeff Neiman over whether surveillance video from Utah Valley University should be played, showing Robinson’s alleged movements on campus. Graf ultimately decided the video will be played Friday in the courtroom only.

Utah Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jennifer Faumuina pointed out on a map of the Utah Valley University campus where Tyler Robinson allegedly fired the shot that killed Charlie Kirk.

During her testimony, Faumuina talked about the distance between where Kirk was and where Robinson allegedly fired the shot.

Tyler Robinson's defense attorney, Michael Burt, accused Erika Kirk's lawyer of wasting the court's time and said the "court has to return to the purpose of these hearings."

"Judge, at this point in the proceeding, we're asking the court to keep focus on the purpose of this hearing. And as the justices said in the Estes case, the purpose of a trial. And I know this isn't a trial, but the same logic applies is to determine the defendant's guilt. It's not to educate the public or the victim's family or the world on what evidence the government or the state has. As a court knows, we have witness availability problems," Burt said. "We spent the bulk of today and yesterday arguing about, nothing to do with the evidence in the case, but with rights of third parties. And it's appropriate for the court to consider that. But at some point, I think the court has to return to the purpose of these hearings, which is to, expeditiously, hear the evidence and then determine probable cause."

"And I want to point out to the court, Miss Kirk has been very adept at holding press conferences at which he has revealed evidence. She has represented that the state is her attorney. She has access to all the evidence that the state has publicized, and that the media and her own lawyer argues is already in the public domain. So they're perfectly free to go outside this courtroom under the court's protective order, they're free to go out and hold press conferences and announce to the world outside the courtroom what they think the evidence is. They have the availability of that evidence," he added.

Prosecutors on Thursday showed pictures of the rifle that Tyler Robinson allegedly used to kill Charlie Kirk.

The pictures show the rifle wrapped in a towel, where investigators said it was found.

Lance Twiggs, Tyler Robinson's former roommate and romantic partner, told investigators the person seen in Utah Valley University surveillance footage taken after Charlie Kirk's shooting looks like Robinson. The FBI previously released screenshots from that footage.

"I wouldn't say with 100% certainty just because of camera quality, but that looks like him in terms of the shoes he's wearing, the sunglasses. I don't think I'd specifically seen him wearing that hat, but he was usually wearing a hat. and then jeans. So it definitely especially the bottom. The last two definitely do look like him. Oh, they do look like Tyler," Twiggs said.

Tyler Robinson would allegedly talk with his ex-roommate and lover about politics relating to President Donald Trump, according to Lance Twiggs.

"Usually if he did talk about politics stuff, it was, relating to Trump or current like, policies being, like issued or voted voted on, I think," Twiggs said.

Tyler Robinson allegedly texted his ex-roommate and lover Lance Twiggs that he had been planning for over a week after Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting.

Here's an alleged text message exchange between Robinson and Twiggs:

Robinson: "If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven't seen anything in the news about them finding it. will update you by midnight"

Twiggs: "alright"

Twiggs: "stay safe"

Twiggs: "how long have you been planning this?"

Robinson: "a bit over a week I believe. I can get close to it but there is a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don't wanna chance it"

Tyler Robinson allegedly texted his former roommate, Lance Twiggs, that he planned to go to work in the hours after Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting, according to screenshots shown in court.

Here's a transcript of the alleged text exchange:

Robinson: "again im so sorry for roping you into all this. you shouldn't have to worry about this"

Twiggs: "does anyone else know?"

Robinson: "not to my knowledge"

Robinson: "its gonna be real f----n annoying if i cant get this thing til like 3, then have to drive back and still go into work"

Twiggs: "you're sure they arent waiting to see if anyone comes to collect the gun?"

Robinson: "i've gotten close enough that they would have jumped me if they were waiting, and they would probably be more concerned with pulling prints off of it"

In alleged text messages exchanged with his former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs, following Charlie Kirk's shooting, Tyler Robinson said he "had enough of his hatred."

"why did I do it?" Robinson allegedly said to Twiggs. "I had enough of his hatred, some hate can't be negotiated out."

"I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence, going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven't seen anything in the news about them finding It. will update you by midnight," Robinson allegedly said.

Tyler Robinson allegedly texted his ex-roommate and lover Lance Twiggs that he had "hoped to keep this secret" until he died of old age, according to screenshots shared in court.

"shouldn't be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. to be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age," Robinson allegedly said. "I am sorry to involve you."

"you werent the one who did it right???" Twiggs allegedly responded.

"I am, I'm sorry," Robinson allegedly replied back. "I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down. Its quiet, almost ehough to get out, but theres one vehicle lingering."

Text messages between Tyler Robinson and his ex-roommate and lover Lance Twiggs were shared in court on Thursday.

"I'm going to turn myself in willingly. One of my neighbors here is a deputy for the sheriff. We hope to keep things sort of quiet here," one of the texts from Robinson to Twiggs read.

"Only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in a towel. I'll bet that K-9 sniffed it out. little snitching b-----d. We replace it. Unlikely. I don't fully know what the gun was because it was old as s--t and Gramps did some modifying. There was a four digit serial serial on it. God only knows who it's registered to. Hopefully some dead guy who gave it to grandpa," Robinson said.

Robinson became visibly uncomfortable several times while Twiggs' testimony was aired. During discussion about the rifle, Robinson was swinging in his chair and scratching his nose, visibly appearing uncomfortable.

Tyler Robinson's ex-roommate, Lance Twiggs, told authorities that the Charlie Kirk assassination suspect began "engraving bullets" around a month before the alleged shooting.

"I don't remember exactly when, but, he had said he was planning to go hunting with his family. And he asked me ... if we had, like, a Dremel to it because he said he wanted to create messages on bullets. and I just told him where Dremel was and, told him to make sure he doesn't, like, set off a bullet on accident in the house. But I didn't really think about it until then," Twiggs said.

Tyler Robinson told his ex-roommate and lover, Lance Twiggs, that he had a "long drive to work" on the morning of the shooting, according to a video interview shown in court.

"I don't know an exact time. I just know he left early. I heard him leaving, and he just said he had, like, long drive to work that day. So he was leaving early," Twiggs said.

Charlie Kirk assassination suspect Tyler Robinson arrived to court on Thursday in a heavily armored BearCat vehicle as day 4 of his preliminary hearing is set to begin.

An interview that authorities conducted with Robinson's ex-roommate and former lover Lance Twiggs is set to be shown in court on Thursday.

Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, filed a supplemental notice Wednesday asking for all evidence to be admitted for the remainder of the preliminary hearing.

"The Victim's Family's position is simple. At a minimum, every exhibit entered into evidence during the preliminary hearing must be visible to every person lawfully present in the courtroom," the court filing read. "To receive evidence in a manner shielded from those seated in the courtroom – as happened today – is not transparency. And in the absence of transparency, speculation and conspiracy theories related to the tragic assassination of Mr. Kirk will continue to proliferate in the public domain, breeding doubt and distrust in the judicial system. This is not what anyone should want."

Charlie Kirk's widow and parents say they were prevented from viewing evidence during the accused assassin's preliminary hearing, arguing in a new court filing that victims have a legal right not only to attend criminal proceedings but to meaningfully observe the evidence presented in open court.

Tyler Robinson, 23, is accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk outside a "Prove Me Wrong" event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Sept. 10, 2025. A preliminary hearing is underway to determine whether the case will move forward to trial.

In a supplemental notice filed Wednesday, Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, asked a Utah judge to require that all evidence admitted during the remainder of Robinson's preliminary hearing be displayed in real time for everyone lawfully present in the courtroom. The filing also asks the court to republish exhibits admitted during the first three days of the hearing that were not shown publicly.

"The Victim's Family's position is simple. At a minimum, every exhibit entered into evidence during the preliminary hearing must be visible to every person lawfully present in the courtroom," the court filing read. "To receive evidence in a manner shielded from those seated in the courtroom – as happened today – is not transparency. And in the absence of transparency, speculation and conspiracy theories related to the tragic assassination of Mr. Kirk will continue to proliferate in the public domain, breeding doubt and distrust in the judicial system. This is not what anyone should want."

A representative for the Kirk family told Fox News the request includes a 4K video of Charlie Kirk's shooting that was admitted into evidence during the preliminary hearing. The representative said the filing does not seek to make the evidence available to the media, only to ensure it can be viewed by those lawfully present in the courtroom. 

The filing says the Kirk family waited 10 months for the preliminary hearing and traveled to the courthouse to witness the proceedings, only to find themselves unable to view certain evidence admitted during testimony.

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Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

PROVO, Utah — Video testimony from Lance Twiggs, the former lover of suspected Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson, is expected to be played in court Thursday as a weeklong preliminary hearing nears its end. 

Prosecutors intended to play it Wednesday, but after a series of objections from the defense, Judge Tony Graf Jr. called for redactions, and prosecutors said they’d rather wait until the morning to ensure they could comply with the court order before playing it. 

Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, shared several emotional embraces with her mother-in-law, Kathy Kirk, and was also wiping tears when the family attorney, Jeff Neiman, asked the court to play the unredacted video for "all the world to see."

From the gallery, she appeared to urge the lawyer to approach the podium for the first time since the hearing began Monday. 

Playing only a redacted version would create "doubt and distrust in the judicial system," Neiman argued. 

"The Kirk family believes strongly that if the evidence is being admitted in this preliminary hearing, it should be made public for the world to see no redactions," he told the judge. "This court has tools at its disposal to make sure the defendant receives a fair trial. You'll use them if you find that you need to."

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