Transcript of Utah Suspect in Custody, Campuses React, Missouri Passes Redistricting

It was a shock that it was him.

Kristen Schwermann goes to church with Tyler Robinson's family. Robinson is accused of killing Charlie Kirk. I'm Ayesha Rosca.

I'm Scott Simon with Up First from NPR News.

I so feel sorry for his mother and his dad because that's not how they raised him.

More from Utah on the latest on the investigation in this podcast.

And we take you to college campuses where the question increasingly is, how open should they be?

And Missouri joins Texas in President Trump's bid to try to keep a Republican House majority. We have what you need to know.

So stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.

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First up, the shooting in Utah.

Wednesday's killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Orem, touched off a frantic search for the gunmen. Now, officials say they've arrested the man they claim pulled the trigger.

Npr Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas is covering the case for us and joins us with the latest. Ryan, thank you for being with us. Thanks for having me. Let us begin with the suspect. What's known about him?

His name is Tyler Robinson. He's 22 years old. He's from Washington, Utah, which is down in the southwestern corner of the state. A colleague of ours, David Kandos, who's a reporter with KUER, NPR's member station in Utah, talked to some of the Robinson family's neighbors in Washington. One of them is Kristin Schwermann. She said that she wanted authorities to find the gunman, but this isn't who she wanted it to be. She also said this about Robinson.

He was a smart kid, quiet.

I used to see him out doing yard work all the time when he was younger.

He had a full ride scholarship, I guess. Schwermann worked at the local elementary school. She said Robinson and his brothers went there as kids, and that their family is a normal hardworking family. They go to the same church in town, for example. She also said this about learning that he was a suspected gunman. It was a shock that it was him, but I so feel sorry for his mother and his dad because that's not how they raised him.

What led investigators to Tyler Robinson?

Utah's Republican Governor, Spencer Cox, talked about how this all went down. Here's a bit of what he said.

On the evening of September 11th, a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff's office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.

Now, that information was passed along to state and federal authorities. An FBI Director Cash Patel said Robinson was arrested around 10: 00 PM local time on Thursday night. Now, investigators also dug into social media. They interviewed Robinson's family, and Cox said that one family member told investigators that Robinson had become more political in in years. Cox also said that the family member recounted a recent dinner that Robinson was at and that Robinson had mentioned that Kirk was going to be speaking at Utah Valley University, which, of course, is where Kirk was killed. Cox also said that in that dinner conversation, Robinson and a family member talked about why they didn't like Kirk and the viewpoints that he espoused.

Any indication about motive yet?

Look, that's always the huge question mark hanging over a shooting like this. Neither Cox nor Patel directly addressed that question, the question of motive. But they did offer clues that could point to that issue, one being the conversation about Kirk that I just mentioned. But Cox also said that investigators found writing etched onto the shell casings that they found in the that they believe was used in the shooting. The writing on one unfired casing read, Hey, fascist, catch, along with some arrow symbols. Another read, Oh, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Ciao, ciao, which could be a reference to an old Italian antifascist song or could be an online gaming reference. As our colleague Odette Youssef has reported, analysts in internet extremism are cautious about reading too much into these very limited hints about Robinson's views. They say that even though some of the engravings on their face may signal antifascist views. Some of the slogans have been used by specific far-right groups to troll others that they consider to be more mainstream conservative, all of which is to say it's too soon to answer the motive question or political angle.

What are you looking for next?

Well, obviously, the motive question is really the big one hanging over all of this. Investigators are going to be going through Robinson's phones, his Internet search history, his social media, interviewing more people who knew him to try to get a sense of that, and it's going to take time. Since Robinson is now a defendant in this case, that information is going to come out in court papers as authorities pursue the prosecution against him.

Ryan Lucas, thanks so much.

Thank you, Scott.

For many universities, the encampments and protests that erupted two years ago after the October seventh attacks and the bombardment of Gaza are still recent memories. Add to that, the chaos of this week's shooting, and a question is popping up on campuses well beyond that of Utah Valley University in Orem.

And that's how open should American College campuses be? And Pierre's Alyssa Nadwerny has been speaking with University Leaders and Safety Experts. She joins us now. Elissa, thanks for being with us.

You're welcome, Scott.

You travel regularly to college campuses. How do they typically handle security these days?

It really is a wide range. So some campuses are completely open. You can walk into the library or academic buildings. You can have a picnic on the quad or use the bathroom in the student center. But increasingly, campuses are tightening security and restricting access. Take Columbia University in New York City. You can't walk through campus without a university ID. Other colleges, you've got to check in with a security officer before you can walk or drive through a campus gate. Tom Sassenti, the CEO of the National Association of Campus Safety Administrators, who served as a chief of police at several colleges and universities, has watched this trend unfold. He said he understands why more and more campuses are starting to limit access.

As a law enforcement officer, I'm going to do everything I can to make it the most safe within my resources.

And then also as a dad of a daughter who's going to college, I'm going to say, Man, do I really want someone who has no affiliation that we can tie into the college to be walking through her living space?

Listen, this does raise the question about who university is for. Is it members of the community who, in some cases, of course, fund the school with their tax dollars, or students?

Yeah. I talked with Dr. Michael Hindal, the President of Northwest Mississippi Community College, about it. His institution serves about 8,000 students with athletics and dorms and a big performing arts center on campus.

It is indeed a balance.

Whether you're a community college like we are, whether you're a university, on one side of this balance that I'm referring to, it is making sure that students have a safe place.

On the other side, it's called a community college for a reason, Scott. Reindell says working with the public is built into the school's vision statement, and he told me how much students and the community have to gain from interacting with each other.

Most colleges and universities are beautiful places for people to engage in. I just think that those types of things are lost when an institution have to make the decision to wall itself off in that way.

Sure. Alyssa, what burden does that put on security to keep a campus open?

Well, the role of campus safety, campus police, has really changed in the last 20 years. The experts I talked to told me the Virginia Tech Massacre, a shooting that happened on campus in 2007, where more than 30 people on campus were killed, really reshaped the role of campus police. Even two decades later, much of campus security comes down to resources. That's in terms of the number of people they have on campus and what those officers are trained in, especially when it comes to bigger outside speakers coming to campus. Then, of course, there's money. Here's to Senti. One license plate reader at one row doesn't help you at all.

Twenty license plate readers throughout campus is what helps you, and those things cost money. Sometimes it's just easier to set up a gate and have one person check every person that comes through.

The other thing he and other campus safety professionals told me is the wide range of responsibility these folks have. I mean, the vast majority of what he dealt with on campus was what he called parental in nature.

Listen, sometimes when the The washer is overflowing and it's one o'clock in the morning, I get the phone call and I walk them through how to fix the washer, right?

But the reality is, from concerns about sexual assault to protests to crowd control and fears of active shooter situations, campus police today are increasingly being asked to do so much more.

And bear us a listen, Ed Worne. Thanks so much for being with us.

You bet.

Missouri has joined the ranks of states answering President Trump's call to help Republicans keep the US House in next year's midterm elections.

Yesterday, the legislature passed a new congressional map that would turn a seat held by a Democrat into a Republican-leaning district, just as the President had requested. This comes after Texas passed a map that could help Republicans win five additional seats.

California and some other Democratic-led states are moving to try to counter this in what's turned into a nationwide redistricting race. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum joins us. Jason, thanks for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

Help us understand the debate that went on there in Missouri. Why did Republicans say they passed this?

Well, Missouri Republicans have told me that since the state elects GOP candidates soundly on a statewide and state legislative level, the congressional map should reflect the party's political dominance. In fact, Governor Mike Kehoe calls this map the Missouri First Plan. A lot of GOP lawmakers, such as Senate President Pro-Tem, Cindy O'Loughlin, say their motivation is to not let Democrats take control of the House.

When the people in Missouri say, Do we want to be sure we send as many Republicans to Congress as we can so that President Trump can finish out his four years in a strong fashion?

The answer to that is yes.

Gop lawmakers like O'Loughlin passed the current map just three years ago. Back then, her Republican colleagues didn't want to target Democratic congressman Emmanuel Cleaver. They feared it would make surrounding districts more competitive. But Trump himself called Missouri Republican senators earlier this week to encourage them to pass the new lines. Many lawmakers contend their constituents like Trump and will support keeping the House in GOP hands.

What resistance did they get?

Democrats, in particular, excoriated Republicans for being subservient to Trump and trying to oust Cleaver, a veteran lawmaker who served as the first Black mayor of Kansas City. Kansas City lawmakers like State Senator Barbara Washington say the map will ultimately silence and dilute the voice of urban Missourians. One side is representing the interests of the people and the voices of the people, and another side is representing the interests of power because they want to be in power more than they want to help their communities. Now, the Missouri governor is expected to sign this soon, but the map is not necessarily a done deal. A group called People, Not Politicians plan to gather more than 100,000 signatures over a three-month period to put the map up for a statewide vote. If they get those signatures, the map can't go into effect probably until after the 2026 election cycle. Meanwhile, two lawsuits have already been filed against the new map.

Jason, state legislatures, of course, have the power to redistrict, but this does come at an unusual time, doesn't it?

It's very unusual. In fact, almost all states pursue redistricting directly after a census, which comes early in the decade. But with Republicans holding a very small majority in the House, Trump and other Republicans believe that the party needs to do everything possible before next year's elections. If Democrats take the House, they could block his agenda and launch investigations of his administration.

Do you know what other states Jason might be looking at this now?

The big one is California, specifically to counter the five Texas seats that are now easier for Republicans to win. Democrats in California are asking voters to approve a map that would help them win five seats there. In the meantime, Trump is asking Indiana, Florida, and other Republican states to pass new maps to help the GOP, and more could come.

Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio. Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

That's up first for September 13th, 2025. I'm Ayesha Rosca.

I'm Scott Simon.

Andy Craig produced today's podcast along with Elaina Twork, Ed McNoty edited with Gabriel Dunatov, Anna Yucaninov, Steve Drummond, and Larry Kaplo.

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