The former lover of Charlie Kirk's accused assassin told Utah prosecutors that the suspected killer "wishes he hadn't done it," in a video played in court Thursday.
Lance Twiggs, who cooperated with investigators and hasn't been charged with a crime, said he had a conversation with Robinson the night before the shooting where he took credit for Kirk's shooting in a conversation with Twiggs.
The video was played on the fourth day of Tyler Robinson's preliminary hearing, a procedural step to determine whether the case can go to trial.
Prosecutors had attempted to play the video Wednesday, but the defense asked the judge to order redactions.
Twiggs was briefly placed under FBI protection and has since left the state after the shooting.
After the shooting, Twiggs received a text message from Robinson telling him to look under his keyboard, where he found a note that he said he took a picture of.
Prosecutors showed it in court, but the judge said it could not be photographed.
The note was a full page, written by hand, and read in part, "I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it."
Twiggs then allegedly texted Robinson asking if he was joking, and Robinson replied that he was the one who did it, saying "I am, I’m sorry."
Twiggs also alleged in the video that Robinson began engraving bullets roughly a month before the shooting.
"I don't remember exactly when, but he had said he was planning to go hunting with his family," Twiggs told prosecutor Ryan McBride in the recorded interview.
"And he asked me...if we had a Dremel tool, because he said he wanted to create messages on bullets," Twiggs said.
Prosecutors have said that cartridges and a spent casing recovered from the suspected murder weapon had been engraved with several messages.
The discussion of the Dremel tool appeared to have an impact on Robinson's family, with his brother appearing uncomfortable and his mother and father showing signs of distress.
Twiggs said he told Robinson where to find the tool and warned him not to accidentally discharge a bullet while engraving, but didn't think of it again until after Kirk was killed.
Roughly a month before the shooting, Robinson allegedly told Twiggs that he had a "long drive to work" on the morning of the shooting.
Twiggs said he left early and lingered in the area until after midnight on Sept. 11.
When Twiggs said he woke up at around noon to 1 p.m. on the day of the shooting, members of Kirk's family scoffed in the gallery.
Twiggs identified Robinson as the person of interest on the FBI wanted poster connected to the shooting, saying "They do look like Tyler Robinson."
The judge agreed to a defense request to allow briefs to be filed by both sides before he listens to oral arguments at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 1.
Only after that would he make a decision on whether there's enough probable cause to send Robinson's case to trial.
The 23-year-old accused assassin has not yet entered a plea and won’t do so unless the judge agrees with prosecutors that the charges are warranted.
Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted.
