Utah court hears rooftop surveillance in preliminary hearing over Charlie Kirk killing

Prosecutors on Tuesday played surveillance footage they say shows the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk running across a rooftop and jumping off after the September 10, 2025, campus shooting at Utah Valley University, lead investigator David Hull told the court.

The video, presented during the second day of the preliminary hearing for accused Tyler Robinson, 23, was explained in detail by Hull of the Utah State Bureau of Investigation, who said the footage appears to show the suspect on campus shortly before and immediately after the fatal shot.

Hull testified the figure seen in the recordings first appeared in a campus parking garage wearing a maroon shirt and gray or olive shorts, returned later in different clothes and with a possible limp, and was then captured on video rolling over a railing onto the Losee Building rooftop.

Minutes after the shooting, the same person is shown running across the roof, dropping down while holding an unknown object and leaving the campus, Hull said. An officer near campus later contacted Robinson in the early hours of September 11 and recorded his license plate, he added.

Robinson faces multiple charges, including aggravated murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He has not entered a plea and his lawyers have objected to much of the video evidence presented so far.

The defence, led by attorney Kathy Nester, sought to exclude several exhibits and to remove the death penalty option, and unsuccessfully argued to bar cameras from the courtroom; the hearing is being live-streamed and is due to continue through Friday.

Some footage shown only to the judge and attorneys included graphic video of the assassination, defence counsel objected repeatedly on grounds including hearsay and alleged editing, and raised that the original videographers were not on the stand.

Judge Graf’s role in the preliminary hearing is to determine whether the prosecution has shown sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial; no finding of guilt or innocence will be made at this stage.