Utah Gov. Spencer Cox further elaborated on how investigators have determined that Tyler Robinson, the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk, had been radicalized, pointing to gaming and “dark internet” culture as potential factors that contributed to a shift.
Cox on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday gave more details about his comment to the Wall Street Journal last week that Robinson had been “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” suggesting that came from conversations Robinson had with friends.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker, Cox added, “According to family and people that we’re interviewing, he does come from a conservative family but his ideology was very different from his family and so that’s part of it.”
Robinson, Cox said, is not cooperating with authorities, but they have been able to glean significant information from family, friends, and acquaintances.
Cox suggested things changed for Robinson after he dropped out of Utah State University.
“It seemed to happen kind of after that — after he moved back to the southern part of Utah. Clearly, there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep. You saw that on the casings. … the meme-ification that is happening in our society today,” he told NBC.
In an interview with ABC’s “This Week” with Martha Raddatz, Cox also confirmed reports that acquaintances were joking online with Robinson about photos released by the FBI during the manhunt.
“Those conversations definitely were happening. And they did not believe it was actually him — it was all joking until he admitted that it actually was him,” he said.
Cox, who appeared on a trio of Sunday shows to offer some new details about the investigation, said the White House asked him to.
“I don’t do a lot of national media anymore and it was the encouragement of the White House that I’m on this program this morning,” he told Raddatz.