On Friday, September 12, 2025, Utah Governor and Latter-day Saint Spencer Cox stood before reporters to provide updates on the investigation into the shocking assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. His briefing began with a review of the evidence that led law enforcement to arrest Tyler Robinson, a Utah resident who confessed to family members and whose movements and online activity tied him directly to the crime.
According to Cox, Robinson was identified on surveillance video arriving on campus in a gray Dodge Challenger on the morning of September 10. Investigators later recovered a Mauser bolt-action rifle with a mounted scope, hidden in a towel near the edge of campus.
Engravings on the shell casings left behind revealed disturbing and mocking messages. Family members told investigators Robinson had grown increasingly political in recent years, and his roommate shared Discord messages that included references to hiding the weapon and changing outfits.
Cox expressed gratitude to law enforcement at every level—including the FBI—for working quickly to identify and apprehend the suspect. He also thanked the public for providing tips, as well as Robinson’s family members for coming forward.
“Most importantly,” he said, “I want to thank and acknowledge the family of Charlie Kirk—his wife Erica, his parents, and his children. Please keep them in your thoughts as justice proceeds.”
Later in the conference, Cox returned to the microphone to take questions from the media, but took an unexpected detour that transformed the briefing into much more than an official update. Taking a step back from the case details, the governor addressed a deeper wound—the way political violence threatens the very foundation of the nation.
“I don’t want to get too preachy,” he said, “but I think it’s important that we, with eyes wide open, understand what’s happening in our country today.”
He noted that every life taken is a child of God who deserves love, respect, and dignity, before calling Kirk’s death “an attack on the American experiment…an attack on our ideals…[that] cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been, and who we could be.”
He reminded listeners that violence of this kind is not only a crime against an individual but an threat to the nation itself. “We cannot solve our other problems…if we can’t have a clash of ideas safely and securely—even, especially, those ideas with which you disagree.”
With visible emotion, Cox admitted he had wrestled with anger and grief in the wake of the assassination. What steadied him, he said, were Kirk’s own words about forgiveness, human connection, and the need to resist rage with hope. “Young people loved Charlie, and young people hated Charlie, and Charlie went into those places anyway. And these are the words that have helped me.”
He then shared Kirk’s reminder: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive, welcome without judgment, love without condition, forgive without limit.” With a small laugh, he added: “Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much.”
Cox went on to highlight one of Kirk’s recent social media posts: “When things are moving very fast and people are losing their minds, it’s important to stay grounded. Turn off your phone, read scripture, spend time with friends, and remember internet fury is not real life. It is going to be okay.”
He added Kirk’s further warning: “When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to commit violence against them. What we, as a culture, have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable disagreement where violence is not an option.”
Cox then made a direct appeal to young people in this nation. “You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage,” he said, urging them to build a culture that does not treat violence as an option but embraces difference through honest and difficult conversations. His clarity—“Words are not violence. Violence is violence”—cut through the noise of recent debates that blur the line between disagreement and attack.
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Turning his attention closer to home, Cox acknowledged that the killer was not an outsider but one of Utah’s own residents. “For 33 hours I was praying that, if this had to happen here, that it wouldn’t be one of us, that somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country. Sadly, that prayer was not answered the way I hoped for.”
He continued: “I thought it would make it easier on us if we could just say, ‘Hey, we don’t do that here.’ And indeed, Utah is a special place. We lead the nation in charitable giving. We lead the nation in service every year. But it did happen here, and it was one of us.”
But he contrasted that heartbreak with the way Utahns responded: “There was no rioting. There’s no looting. There’s no cars set on fire. There’s no violence. There were vigils and prayers and people coming together to share the humanity. And that, ladies and gentlemen, I believe is the answer to this.”
In a moment when Americans are disoriented, disheartened, and fearful about the future, Cox’s words sounded less like a press briefing and more like the steady leadership Utahns and Americans need to navigate this darkness without losing faith. His reminder that hope is not blind optimism but a virtue rooted in action offers a perspective Latter-day Saints will recognize.
In fact, his words echoed the same calls for civility, forgiveness, and peacemaking that Church members have heard repeatedly from prophets and apostles in recent years. Agency matters, he emphasized, and what we choose can shape the course of history.
“We can return violence with violence. We can return hate with hate. And that’s the problem with political violence—it metastasizes…At some point we have to find an off-ramp, or it’s going to get much worse. But these are choices that we can make.”
“History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country,” Cox continued. “But every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us.”
During a somber update that confronted painful truths, it was this call—to forgiveness, connection, and hope—that rose above the tragedy. And perhaps, in this difficult hour, that is exactly the voice of reason Americans most need to hear.
Holly Wallace is a writer and storyteller drawn to meaningful questions and overlooked details. Her work explores Latter-day Saint life and culture through faithful inquiry, inviting readers to pause, consider, and engage more deeply with what matters most.
The governor of Utah gave a wonderful speech after the shooting of Charlie Kirk, which we all should take to heart not only for the United States but for Canada as well!
How Lucky Utah is to have such a great Governor! I wish all leaders in all States shared his convictions, morality and leadership!
Surely governor Cox is not comparing this assassination to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers. Surely not.