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Authorities are examining the online activity of the 22-year-old suspect charged in the fatal shooting of conservative speaker Charlie Kirk, as experts warn that digital subcultures are increasingly fueling acts of violence.
A Calculated Attack
In a crime that shocked the nation, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson is accused of carrying out what investigators describe as a carefully planned assassination. Unlike most mass shooters who expect to die during their attacks, an expert tells Fox News Digital that Robinson devised escape routes and left behind a detailed digital trail.
“This one is incredibly interesting because of how long he says, through the text that has been disclosed, he had been planning this and for how long it seems like he laid in wait,” said George Brauchler, a prosecutor who has handled some of the nation’s most high-profile mass shootings.
“Most of them have no plans to escape. They have plans to die right there, either by their hand or the good guys who stop them. But this is someone who planned to get away with this. He’s different in a way.”
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Students reunite with loved ones and classmates outside Bergen Meadow Elementary School after a shooting at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colo., on Sept. 10, 2025. At least three students were injured, including the suspected shooter, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Investigators are still piecing together Robinson’s motives.
“He grew up, it looks like, in a decent home, surrounded by an intact family, all the markers that you want for youth,” Brauchler said. “And somehow brought himself to a place where he was willing to shoot and kill another human being in cold blood. That’s a heck of a decision.”
Columbine’s Enduring Shadow
From Columbine to Aurora, mass shootings often carry echoes of past tragedies. Brauchler notes that Columbine remains a dark touchstone for copycats.
“In every case I’ve handled — Aurora, STEM, even two 16-year-old girls who idolized the Columbine shooters — it shows up,” he said. “Columbine just has a certain mystique and mythology to it that people can look back on and say, I want to be like them. Or in the Aurora Theater case, I want to be better than them. I want to create more victims than them,” he continued.
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Police officers sit in the parking lot next to Columbine High School on April 20, 2021, in Littleton, Colo. Twelve students and a teacher were killed in the Columbine High School shooting, which at the time was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
What has changed since 1999 is the digital landscape, Brauchler said, noting that online forums amplify manifestos, glorify killers, and celebrate body counts like video game scores. After Kirk’s murder, graphic crime scene images spread within minutes — a chilling reminder of cultural desensitization.
“What’s different now is the real-time exposure. Kids see killings and violence on social media instantly, up close. That kind of desensitization didn’t exist during Columbine or Aurora,” Brauchler said.
From Online Fantasy to Real-World Murder
The troubling details of this incident, and others like it, fit a pattern recently identified by the ADL Center on Extremism. Analysts at the organization have observed similar trends in at least four school shootings carried out by minors over the past year.
“We need to figure out what they’re watching, what they’re exposing themselves to — because it’s clearly driving some of these kids to believe this kind of horror is normal,” Brauchler warned.
On Sept. 10, 2025, a 16-year-old named Desmond Holly carried out a shooting at Evergreen High School, injuring two classmates before taking his own life. At a press briefing the following day, a spokesperson from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office stated that Holly had been “radicalized by some extremist network,” though declined to go into further detail, the organization reported.
According to research by the ADL, the shooter had spent a significant amount of time in online environments that promote violent and extremist ideologies. Investigators found that he ultimately adopted these beliefs himself.
The shooter maintained an account on a graphic content forum called WatchPeopleDie, where he had interacted with posts discussing mass shootings in Parkland (2018), Buffalo (2022), and a 2017 attack at a mosque in Quebec City, according to the report.
Records obtained by the organization suggest the shooter joined the platform on Dec. 26, 2024 – falling between two other school shootings: one at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, and another at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee.
Emergency vehicles are parked outside the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., following a shooting, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
But this shooter isn’t the only attacker tied to this online space. In a report published in Aug. 2025, the ADL revealed that Natalie Rupnow and Solomon Henderson, the individuals behind the Madison and Nashville shootings, were also users of the site. That same month, a teenager in Morocco posted a manifesto and announced plans for a mass stabbing on WatchPeopleDie, as well as on X and 8kun.
The ADL’s findings show that the platform frequently hosts white supremacist, antisemitic, and other extremist material. Users, including minors, are exposed to highly graphic violence that is often celebrated by the community, which may lead to desensitization and a heightened risk of radicalization and ideologically driven violence, the organization noted.
Still, confronting these spaces poses constitutional challenges. “I’m not ready to trade the First Amendment for an extra layer of security,” Brauchler said. “But we have to invest in law enforcement and digital forensics. These sites are out there, and they’re dangerous.”
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“I want every level of government to be curious about the motives of anyone that engages in this kind of homicidal behavior,” he continued. “One, to find out what it is that may have triggered them or what fascinated them and what they had a passion for.”
Brauchler added that while the FBI reportedly had early warnings about the Evergreen school shooter, the sheer volume of online threats makes timely intervention nearly impossible.
The Path Forward
Brauchler says prevention begins with vigilance.
“See something, say something, if it gives you concern,” Brauchler emphasized, recalling how tips thwarted two teenagers plotting an attack at Mountain Vista High School. “That’s how this thing got disrupted before they were able to pull it off. It was a nosy mom and an anonymous student tip.”
He also advocates for armed school resource officers in every building.
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Law enforcement officers and emergency personnel respond to a shooting at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post)
“Mass shooters are cowards, Brauchler said bluntly. “They plan from the standpoint of two beliefs. One, that they will have the upper hand because of surprise, and two, they will have the upper hand because they will be the only guns in the school. It’s not 100% guarantee, but they tend not to act when they see a uniformed officer.”
Still, he acknowledged that no system can guarantee safety.
“Evil exists,” he said. “But when communities remain alert and law enforcement has the tools to monitor threats, tragedies can be prevented.”
Stepheny Price covers crime including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Story tips: stepheny.price@fox.com.