7 News Boston, September 2025
Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Before this, Robinson had no criminal record. Northeastern University Criminologist Dr. James Fox, says political attacks are often fueled by online rhetoric. At 22-years old and a college drop-out, he says Robinson could have easily been influenced.
“We’re not talking about street crime,” Dr. Fox said. “We’re talking about something that’s ideological and you don’t have to be poor, you don’t have to be from a broken home to be driven by ideology. For individuals that age – who don’t have a spouse, children and careers and those kinds of responsibilities … issues of politics are things they hear about online can take precedence and consume them. All they have is a sounding board online and chat rooms where they find people of point of view and all that really does is to reinforce and solidify whatever point of view they have.”
Authorities say there were messages on the bullet casings found at the crime scene like, “If you read this you are gay lmao.” “A lot of it had to do with social media jargon,” Dr. Fox said. “Its a whole different world online and its one, individuals of his age spend a tremendous amount of time.” Investigators say Robinson’s roommate showed them messages on the social media platform “Discord,” talking about the rifle. “Its commonplace for killers leak their intentions,” Dr. Fox said. “They do not really think through this may lead to their capture. Its more important for them to proselytize, to talk online about their feelings and their beliefs.”
