Prosecutors in Utah have shown new surveillance footage in court that they say depicts the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk moving across a campus rooftop shortly after the fatal shooting.
The video was played on Tuesday during the second day of a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, 23, who is charged in connection with Kirk’s death at Utah Valley University on 10 September 2025. The hearing is not a trial. Its purpose is for a judge to decide whether prosecutors have presented enough evidence for the case to move forward.
Robinson faces multiple charges, including aggravated murder. He has not yet entered a plea. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, while his defence team has challenged parts of the evidence and has sought to have capital punishment removed as a possible outcome.
David Hull, the lead investigator on the case for Utah’s State Bureau of Investigation, guided the court through security footage as a prosecution witness. According to his testimony, the footage showed a man alleged to be Robinson appearing on campus several times on the day Kirk was killed.
Hull told the court that a vehicle linked by investigators to Robinson entered a campus parking garage. A man wearing a maroon shirt, Converse shoes and grey or olive shorts was then seen walking through parts of the university, according to the testimony.
The investigator said the same man later returned to campus, bought food and moved towards a wooded area near the university. When the man appeared again about 90 minutes before the shooting, Hull testified, he was wearing different clothing and seemed to be walking with a limp.
Prosecutors then played footage that they said showed the suspect going towards the Losee Building and reaching the roof by rolling over a railing. After the shot that killed Kirk, the person in the video was seen running across the rooftop, dropping down while holding an unidentified object and leaving the campus area, Hull told the court.
Hull also testified that a rifle was later recovered in the wooded area where investigators believe Robinson had entered earlier in the day. The court has not determined that the weapon was used in the shooting, and the defence has continued to challenge the prosecution’s presentation of the evidence.
Kirk was shot while addressing an audience at a university event. The killing drew national attention because of Kirk’s prominence in conservative politics and because it occurred in a public campus setting. The current proceedings, however, are focused on the evidentiary threshold required under criminal procedure before a full trial can be held.
During cross-examination by defence attorney Kathy Nester, Hull acknowledged that at least one other weapon had been found on campus on the day of the shooting. He also said investigators did not find shell casings on the rooftop near what another officer had described as a possible firing position.
That area, referred to in court as a suspected “sniper pad”, was described as an impression in gravel that appeared consistent with someone lying flat and having a line of sight towards where Kirk had been speaking. The absence of shell casings at that location was among the points raised by the defence as it questioned the prosecution’s account.
Nester also referred to witness accounts that she said differed from the state’s theory. Some witnesses had described another possible suspect on the rooftop, she said, while other interviewees had claimed that a bald man had been driving the vehicle prosecutors linked to Robinson in footage shown earlier in the hearing.
The defence has objected repeatedly to the use of video exhibits and related testimony. Its objections have included arguments that some testimony relied on hearsay, meaning statements made outside court that are offered as evidence, and that some footage had been edited before being shown. Defence lawyers also noted that some people who originally recorded or handled footage were not testifying at the time it was presented.
Prosecutors have used the hearing to set out a sequence of movements they say connects Robinson to the campus, the roof and the wooded area where the rifle was recovered. The defence has used cross-examination to question the reliability, completeness and interpretation of that evidence.
Hull also told the court that in the early hours of 11 September, while police were searching for the gunman, an officer near the campus made contact with Robinson and recorded his licence plate. The testimony formed part of the state’s effort to place Robinson near the area during the period after the shooting.
The judge overseeing the hearing, identified in court records as Judge Graf, will not decide guilt or innocence at this stage. A preliminary hearing requires the prosecution to show probable cause, a lower standard than proof beyond reasonable doubt, which would apply at trial.
The hearing is expected to continue through the week. If the judge finds that the prosecution has met the required threshold, the case may proceed towards trial, where the evidence would be tested under stricter rules and a plea would be entered. If the threshold is not met on particular charges, the court may limit or dismiss parts of the case.
For now, the proceedings remain focused on whether the state has presented sufficient evidence to continue prosecuting Robinson over Kirk’s death. The contested surveillance footage, the defence’s objections and the questions raised about physical evidence are expected to remain central as the preliminary hearing continues.
