After Shooting, Kirk Suspect Joked About 'Doppleganger'

When surveillance photos began circulating after the murder of Charlie Kirk, friends of the man who would eventually be arrested were taken aback: The suspect looked just like their friend, Tyler Robinson. In fact, the New York Times reports that after they began writing about it in a Discord group chat, Robinson himself chimed in. At one point, he wrote that his "doppleganger" was trying to "get me in trouble." At another—after one participant joked they should turn Robinson in for the reward money—he said he should get a cut.

One of the members of the group chat, a former high school classmate of Robinson's, shared the messages with the Times. "Tyler killed Charlie!!!" one person wrote in a jokey manner, while Robinson wrote—in seeming sarcasm—that he "better also get rid of this manifesto and exact copy rifle I have lying around." The messages make clear that Robinson was closely following developments after the shooting—the "doppleganger" joke came just hours before his arrest. The Times story by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs has more examples. (On Saturday, Kirk's widow vowed that his conservative youth movement would go on.)