Latest: Childhood friends Charlie Kirk suspected killer, Tyler Robinson say suspect was ‘expected to be a billionaire’
People who saw Tyler Robinson grow as schoolboy to an accused assassin say their memories bear no resemblance to the cold-faced suspect now known to the world.
Flicking through his school yearbooks, classmates of suspected Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson tell how they believed he would be a “billionaire by the age of 25”. Instead, they are today coming to terms with how three years before he reached such an achievement, he went from a talented scholarship winner to America’s most wanted.
The boy who once grinned from school yearbooks, a bright-eyed lad from a respectable, hard-working Mormon home, now stares back at America from a grim mugshot – the hollow-eyed face of an accused political assassin. Now, if found guilty, he could even face the death penalty, after his anguished father turned him in to the police.
Charlie Kirk: Jaida Funk an ex classmate of Tyler Robinson shares school memories
Flicking through his school yearbooks, classmates of suspected Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson tell how they believed he would be a “billionaire by the age of 25”.
Instead, they are today coming to terms with how three years before he reached such an achievement, he went from a talented scholarship winner to America’s most wanted. The boy who once grinned from school yearbooks, a bright-eyed lad from a respectable, hard-working Mormon home, now stares back at America from a grim mugshot – the hollow-eyed face of an accused political assassin. Now, if found guilty, he could even face the death penalty, after his anguished father turned him in to the police.
Neighbours and old friends in the conservative heartland of southern Utah have been left reeling, struggling to reconcile the smiling boy-next-door they knew with the man now branded a murderer. Raised in a God-fearing Republican household, Robinson grew up in the tight-knit city of St. George – a place where families worship, hunt, and raise their children to play by the rules. His childhood was stitched together with comic books, video games and Sunday services.
But authorities say the former Pine View Middle School pupil transformed, steeped in politics, radicalised, and fuelled by a loathing of Kirk – the right-wing firebrand who drew huge crowds across the country.
Now, those he grew up with, Robinson, who knew him as he went from an innocent boy to a suspect killer, have said their memories are in stark contrast to how the world now views him.
Jaida Funk, 22, who went to elementary and middle school with the suspect, described Robinson as an excellent student, holding the personality of a teacher’s pet, always on time, respectful, hardworking, and smart. “Tyler was just always being a kind, genuine, respectable guy,” she said. “He was the kind of student that any teacher wanted in his class. Respectful to peers, classmates, friends, adults, and authority figures.
“He was always very sharp and very smart and the type of kid that liked school. I wouldn’t say he was popular, but well known, and I say he was queit but not quiet in a weird way, just quiet enough that he kept himself in his inner circle, but he had the confidence to speak to any teacher, any adult, and the popular kids in the hallway.”
“But from what I know about him from kindergarten through early high school, I just thought of him as maybe being a businessman or like a CEO or being a billionaire by 25, not now a suspected assassin.”
Keaton Brooksby, 22, holds similar views. “It’s really sad that someone with his mind put it to that sort of use,” said the former classmate, who still can’t believe the boy he once sat beside is now accused of pulling the trigger in America’s most shocking political killing in years.