Fact Check: Was Charlie Kirk shooting suspect Tyler Robinson a UVU student?

WASHINGTON, DC: As the preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, continued, a claim spread online that the 23-year-old was a student at Utah Valley University (UVU). The rumor gained traction after prosecutors presented surveillance footage showing Robinson's movements on the UVU campus as they argued their case for aggravated murder and pursued the death penalty. Here's what the evidence shows.

Claim: Tyler Robinson was a UVU student

The rumor about whether Tyler Robinson was a student at Utah Valley University (UVU) resurfaced during the multi-day preliminary hearing in July 2026.

The claim also revived confusion from the days following the September 2025 shooting, when some people mistakenly believed the suspected shooter was a UVU student. Officials quickly corrected that speculation, and Robinson's repeated visits to the campus despite not being enrolled have since become a key point in the prosecution's case.

The discussion gained renewed attention after Donald Trump Jr posted on X, "Fact: Tyler Robinson was on the Utah Valley University campus 4 times between September 10, 2025, and the early hours (approximately 12:40 a.m.) on September 11, 2025."

He added, "Major detail no one seems to be talking about: Tyler Robinson was not a student at UVU!!!"

The post has received more than 1.6 million views, over 23,000 likes, and hundreds of comments, fueling further debate online. Here's what the evidence shows.

Fact Check: False

The claim is false. Utah Valley University (UVU) and state authorities have confirmed that Tyler Robinson was not a student at the university. Instead, Robinson lived in Washington County, near St George, and was enrolled in a third-year electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College at the time of the September 2025 shooting.

Court records and official statements also show that Robinson briefly attended Utah State University for one semester in 2021 as a pre-engineering major. Before that, he earned concurrent enrollment credits from Utah Tech University while he was in high school. There is no evidence that he was ever enrolled at UVU.

The rumor appears to stem from surveillance footage showing Robinson visiting the UVU campus four times between September 10 and the early hours of September 11, 2025.

Those visits led some social media users to assume he was a student. However, officials quickly corrected that misconception after the shooting, and prosecutors have revisited the issue during the ongoing preliminary hearing to highlight Robinson's repeated presence on campus despite having no affiliation with the university.

Rather than supporting the rumor, the evidence presented in court reinforces that Robinson was not a UVU student.