The quiet neighborhood was like many others in the sun-baked city of Washington, Utah, which lies amid the red rock and sagebrush mesas of the Utah-Arizona borderlands.
Just hours before, news had broken that law enforcement had arrested a suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk, the far-right influencer and Turning Point USA co-founder.
That suspect was Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old college student who they said confessed to his family that he had shot and killed Kirk earlier this week.
Public records showed that Robinson’s family lived here in Washington, a small city of 35,000 people located about 260 miles (420km) south-west of Orem, where Kirk was killed during a public event on a college campus. His death has reverberated across the world and thrust Utah into the national spotlight.
Related: A video, a pastor and a tense meeting: timeline of Charlie Kirk suspect’s arrest
By mid-morning on Friday, the streets near the residence were crowded with police vehicles and a neat row of media cameras.
Melissa Tait, 55 and a mother of four, lives just down the street, and said the Robinson family were “just like any other neighbor” and that they were “no different than my family”.
Tait expressed sympathy for the family, and gratitude that Robinson was now in custody after his father recognized him in photos and video footage police released of the shooter escaping the scene.
“Unfortunately their son made a really bad decision,” Tait said.
Details are still emerging about Robinson and a motive for the crime. Authorities say Robinson was enrolled in an electrical apprenticeship at Dixie Technical College in nearby St George, and briefly attended Utah State University (USU).
In a phone interview on Friday, someone who described themselves as friends with Robinson in high school and who asked to remain anonymous, said that Robinson had expressed sentiments that were critical of Donald Trump several years ago despite the rest of his family being broadly conservative. The friend acknowledged they could not be certain about Robinson’s more recent political views, as they lost touch after graduating from Pine View high school. Voting records show Robinson was unaffiliated with a political party before the 2024 election. His parents were registered Republicans.
Walter Williams, a neighbor who has lived in the same neighborhood for four years but did not know Tyler personally, expressed surprise when he heard the news.
“I honestly didn’t know he lived here,” said Williams, 33, in an interview from the suburban streets. He called the neighborhood a “safe place”. “Everybody knows each other, and takes care of each other,” he said.
Reflecting on the US’s deepening division and renewed fears of violence between those on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Williams said that as a member of the Mormon church, he liked a lot of what Kirk said. But he also respected everyone’s right to their own views.
Related: A quiet Utah town reckons with Charlie Kirk’s shooting: ‘Nothing like this has happened here’
“I know everybody has their own opinions, that’s totally fine. That’s what the US is about,” Williams said. “Having different opinions and not forcing that on each other, not taking it out on each other. We can have an open dialogue and respect each other for our own opinions because we’re all different and that’s the beauty of being human.”
Miles Meloni, 14, also lives in the neighborhood. Meloni followed Kirk, and said that he felt “great sorrow” for both the Robinson and Kirk families.
Meloni is alarmed by political violence in the country he is coming of age in.
“I want to see a change,” Meloni said. “I think for people like this, if the family sees any progression towards this view, that they need to hurt people, that they need to have their child, family member, friends, anybody seek help.”
He hopes this doesn’t skew people’s perception of the state he calls home.
“It’s just not something you think would happen here,” Meloni said. “Don’t let this taint your view on Utah.”
Anna Betts contributed reporting
