A local investigation by Salt Lake City’s KUTV 2News has revealed that key surveillance footage showing accused shooter Tyler Robinson surrendering at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office has gone missing.
The station sought the footage shortly after the September 10 killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot with what investigators say was a single .30-06 round while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. Authorities believe the shooter used a scoped Mauser Model 98 bolt-action rifle.
Robinson turned himself in less than two days later, arriving at the sheriff’s office with his parents and a family friend who said they recognized the weapon photographed by investigators and released to the public.
“Our job was not to interview; our job was just to get him here,” Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby said at a September 17 press conference. “Within the hour, my friend drove Tyler and his parents to my office, where he was greeted by plainclothes detectives.”
2News submitted public-records requests for surveillance recordings showing Robinson entering the sheriff’s office, along with any footage from holding areas. The sheriff’s office initially responded that no such video existed because Robinson never entered the jail portion of the facility.
When the station broadened the request to include any exterior or lobby surveillance of Robinson arriving, officials then stated the footage had already been deleted under the office’s 30-day retention policy. They also confirmed the video was never provided to Utah County investigators or any other agency before being erased.
Veteran Utah criminal defense lawyer Rudy Bautista, who has worked on capital cases for more than two decades, told 2News the loss of the footage is troubling.
“For the state of Utah, we would certainly hope that this video is available,” Bautista said, adding that the shifting explanations from the sheriff’s office appeared to “shut the door” on public scrutiny.
“If in fact it has been destroyed and not preserved, it’s very concerning,” he said. “If they no longer have it, I would have expected them to say that the video had been provided to Utah County law enforcement. Instead, this letter reads, in my opinion, like an attempt to limit access.”
The disappearance of material documenting a suspect’s surrender in such a high-profile case raises questions about evidence preservation and chain-of-custody procedures. With skepticism already circulating around the investigation, the missing video is likely to intensify debate.
As of now, neither the Washington County Sheriff’s Office nor the Utah County prosecutor has offered further clarification about why the footage was not retained for investigators.