A former classmate of Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, has spoken out about him, offering insight into his behavior and online habits.
Jordan Brann, who attended Pine View High School in St. George, Utah, posted a video on Tiktok calling Robinson a ‘Reddit Kid ,’ a slang term used to describe young people who are heavily influenced by the internet.
The phrase often has a mocking tone, implying that someone is deeply immersed in online communities, memes, or internet governance.
“I went to school with Tyler Robinson,” Brann said in a now-deleted TikTok.
He added that he was not friends with Robinson but had seen him consistently over three years of high school.
“All I’m going to say is that this is what happens when you spend too much time online and suddenly your confidence is up to this point or all the way down and you do some dramatic things to please these people who aren’t your friends,” Brann said.
Brann later shared a second video, explaining that he intended to illustrate the effects of excessive internet use on young people.
The video generated more than two million views in three days, sparking a frenzy online about the dangers of the internet.
Jordan Brann (pictured) went to high school with Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson. Both graduated in 2021
Brann showed off his class yearbook during his TikTok video, pointing to a photo of Robinson (pictured)
The Daily Mail has contacted Brann for comment.
Robinson, 22, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Kirk, 31, on Wednesday at Utah Valley University.
Kirk, the founder of the youth conservative group Dering Point USA, was shot with a single shot from a rooftop during a campus speaking event on September 10.
Authorities said Robinson had recorded messages about bullets referring to internet culture and anti-fascist views before firing the shot that killed Kirk.
According to Utah Governor Spencer Cox, one of the bullets was engraved with the statement “oo, what is this?” meme used to troll “furry” and transgender people.
Furries are a community that adopts anthropomorphized animal persons, sometimes in a sexual context.
The website “Know Your Meme” points to a phrase reportedly engraved on a bullet that is being used online to troll train passengers.
OWO is intended to represent a wide-eyed face of surprise, with a “bulge of announcements,” which refers to the male appendage.
Charlie Kirk, founder of the youth conservative group Dering Point USA, was shot with a single shot from a rooftop during a campus speaking event on September 10th.
Another engraving said: ‘Hey fascists! Catch the right arrow symbol next to the up arrow and three more arrows pointing down.’
The symbols could be a reference to the Iron Front, a paramilitary group formed in opposition to the Nazi Party during the Weimar Republic period in Germany.
Social media users have also pointed to a video game called Helldivers 2, a shooter set in 2024.
The code called for in the game’s air strike requires the player to hit, right, followed by three times.
Another was engraved with the words of the famous Italian anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao,” dedicated to the Italian resistance that fought against Nazism.
The last unfulfilled cover was captioned, “If you’re reading this, you’re gay lmao,” Cox added. LMAO is an internet acronym for “laughing my a** off.”
Robinson, a Washington, DC native, was arrested less than 34 hours later after his father recognized him in surveillance footage released by the FBI.
Authorities said he confessed to family members who gave up on law enforcement, leading to his capture in a wooded area near his St. George apartment.
Brann shared an image of Robison in their school yearbook, pointing out the possible killer’s picture and name in the book.
“The best way I can describe him is the Reddit kid,” Brann said. “I feel like if you were in high school around that time, and even probably now, you know those kinds of kids,” he added. “That’s exactly what he was.”
Brann made a follow-up video shortly after to clarify that he was not friends with Robinson, noting that there were “at least 100, if not more, people” who knew him better.
“What he seemed like was this kid who spent a lot of time online,” Brann said.
“I wanted to make a video because I wanted to show what too much internet does to people.”
Years before being named as the possible shooter, Robinson was a member of his high school’s auto mechanics club.
In a section asking students their favorite subject, he wrote, “Math, it makes more sense than English.”
Other former classmates have described Robinson as an unremarkable, normal student who had friends and mostly hung out with members of the school band.
He had good grades and was awarded a four-year scholarship to Utah State University, but he attended only one semester before dropping out to enroll at Dixie Technical College.
The suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk was identified Friday as 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson
At the time of the shooting, he was a third-year student at the college in the Electrical Apprenticeship Program.
Robinson was unmasked as the alleged shooter Friday after a two-day manhunt that ended after the father recognized him through FBI photos and confronted his son.
He was arrested around 11:00 pm local time in southern Utah on Thursday night.
He faces charges of aggravated murder, felony firearm causing serious bodily harm and obstruction of justice, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Authorities said at a news conference Thursday night that Robinson would face the death penalty if convicted.
At a press conference Friday morning, Cox began his remarks by declaring, “We got him.”
