Newly surfaced audio of Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer shows 22-year-old Tyler Robinson joking and laughing with friends during a video game livestream — a chilling contrast to the confession prosecutors say he later made about killing the Turning Point USA founder.
The video, originally posted to YouTube years ago and later deleted, has since been recovered. It captures Robinson, then a teenager, playing the popular game Minecraft under the online handle “Craftin.” His friends described him as intense, eccentric, and even disturbing.
At one point in the recording, Robinson joked after another player misspelled his gamertag.
“Who put a G at the end of my name? What are you, a psychopath?” he asked, before celebrating an accomplishment in the game.
The video, first reported by the Daily Mail, comes as prosecutors build a case against Robinson. Authorities say he confessed to fatally shooting Kirk, 31, with a hunting rifle during a rally at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. The murder shocked the political world and left Turning Point USA scrambling to regroup after the loss of its founder.
Online accounts tied to Robinson show a disturbing digital trail. Investigators linked his gaming profile to explicit material in niche communities, including pornography centered on “furries” — a subculture where participants dress in animal costumes and often sexualize the imagery.
On Steam, Robinson’s account was associated with the game “Furry Shades of Gay,” which advertises itself as a graphic title focused on “love, queer relationships, hot gay sex and slapstick humor.” Robinson reportedly played the game enough to unlock an uncommon sticker depicting a cat dressed in a maid’s outfit.
Friends from high school told reporters that Robinson regularly used the online name “craftin247” not only for games but also while visiting pornography sites. That same handle appears on FurAffinity, a website devoted to furry content, where it was recorded as “recently watching” the work of artist RedRusker.
The recovered video, uploaded years ago by another gamer known as YoYoSquidy, underscores how Robinson’s disturbing behavior went unnoticed for years. In one clip, a fellow player called him a “psychopath” as the group played Minecraft together.
Turning Point USA announced Thursday that Erika Kirk, widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has been unanimously elected as the organization’s new CEO and chair of its board of directors.
“In prior discussions, Charlie expressed to multiple executives that this is what he wanted in the event of his death,” the organization said in a post on X.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. His death stunned supporters and allies across the conservative movement and left the future of the group he founded in question.
In a statement, Turning Point USA’s board of directors said its members were confident in Erika Kirk’s leadership, pointing to her experience alongside her husband and her commitment to his mission.
“It was the honor of our lives to serve as board members at Charlie’s side,” the board said. “Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one. He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests. And now, it’s our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA.”
The statement described Erika Kirk as the natural successor to carry forward the late founder’s vision of faith and patriotism.
“All of us at Turning Point USA have a special role in carrying Charlie Kirk’s mantle and completing his vision of bringing us all closer to our Lord and fostering a prosperous country for generations to come,” the board said. “As Charlie always said, ‘We have a country to save.’ We will not surrender or kneel before evil. We will carry on. The attempt to destroy Charlie’s work will become our chance to make it more powerful and enduring than ever before.”