Tyler Robinson hearing: Top moments from explosive Lance Twiggs interview played in court
PROVO, Utah — The former lover of Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin told Utah prosecutors that the suspected killer "wishes he hadn't done it," according to a video played in court Thursday.
"I just asked him in person if what he said was true the night before, and he said it was, started crying a little bit and said he wishes he hadn't done it," Lance Twiggs told investigators in a video interview.
The night before, according to text messages prosecutors displayed later, Robinson allegedly took credit for Kirk's shooting in a conversation with Twiggs.
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The video was played on the fourth day of Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing — a procedural step to determine whether the case can go to trial.
Prosecutors had attempted to play it Wednesday, but the defense asked the judge to order redactions.
After some back and forth over what could and couldn’t be included, it was shown in court Thursday morning, and Robinson appeared to watch it closely.
Twiggs, who is cooperating with investigators and hasn’t been charged with a crime, was also Robinson's lover and roommate, according to prosecutors. He said that he identified as "Luna" to some associates, including Robinson.
Twiggs was briefly placed under FBI protection and has since left the state.
After the shooting, Twiggs allegedly received a text message from Robinson telling him to look under his keyboard. There, according to prosecutors, he found a note that he said he took a picture of.
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Prosecutors showed it in court, but the judge said it could not be photographed. It was a full page, written by hand.
"I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it," it read at one point.
After seeing the note, Twiggs then allegedly texted Robinson asking if he was joking.
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"I am still ok my love, but am stuck in orem for a little while longer yet," Robinson replied — allegedly. "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. I am sorry to involve you."
"You weren’t the one who did it right????" Twiggs replied.
"I am," Robinson allegedly wrote back. "I’m sorry."
Twiggs also alleged in the video that Robinson began engraving bullets roughly a month before the shooting.
"I don't remember exactly when, but he had said he was planning to go hunting with his family," Twiggs told prosecutor Ryan McBride in the recorded interview. "And he asked me...if we had a Dremel tool, because he said he wanted to create messages on bullets."
Prosecutors have said that cartridges and a spent casing recovered from the suspected murder weapon had been engraved with several messages. Another casing with a similar engraving had been recovered from the home Robinson and Twiggs shared, according to testimony Thursday.
Several times when the Dremel tool allegedly used to engrave the bullets came up Robinson appeared uncomfortable in the courtroom, fidgeting in his chair.
Twiggs said he told Robinson where to find the tool and warned him not to accidentally discharge a bullet while engraving — then didn’t think of it again until after Kirk was killed.
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Mention of the tool also appeared to have an impact on Robinson's family in the first row of the gallery in court.
As the Dremel discussion continued, Robinson’s brother was bent over with his head down, with his mother rubbing his back, and the father's arm around her.
Later in the hearing, when the court saw a text message conversation between Robinson and Twiggs, Erika Kirk could be heard crying as the texts were read in court of Twiggs asking Robinson questions about the gun, which by the time they were sent had been recovered by police in a wooded area just off campus.
According to Twiggs' video interview, Robinson allegedly told him that he had a "long drive to work" on the morning of the shooting.
"I don't know an exact time," he said. "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."
That was on Sept. 10, the day of Kirk's assassination at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Robinson allegedly lingered in the area until after midnight on Sept. 11.
When Twiggs said he woke up at around noon to 1 p.m. on the day of the shooting, members of Kirk's family scoffed from the third row of the gallery.
Robinson reached up and scratched his throat when Twiggs talked about the last time he saw Tyler before he went to surrender.
In another portion of the video interview, Twiggs told investigators that Robinson looked like the man circulated on an FBI wanted poster connected to the shooting, which showed a person of interest on campus.
"They do look like Tyler Robinson," Twiggs said.
He had downplayed the identification, however.
"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," Twiggs said. "I don't think I'd specifically seen him wearing that hat, but he was usually wearing a hat, and the jeans."
Twiggs did not testify in person at the preliminary hearing but may be asked to do so if the case goes to trial.
Near the end of Thursday's hearing, Judge Tony Graf Jr. indicated that he would not make a decision at the end of the preliminary hearing this week. Instead, he agreed to a defense request to allow briefs to be filed by both sides before he listens to oral arguments at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 1.
Only after that would he make a decision on where there's enough probable cause to send Robinson's case to trial.
The 23-year-old accused assassin has not yet entered a plea and won’t do so unless the judge agrees with prosecutors that the charges are warranted.
The September hearing will be nearly a year after a sniper's bullet killed Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted.