Y'know that Guardian article which cited an anonymous friend of Tyler Robinson claiming he was the only "leftist" ...

[demmiblue]

Y'know that Guardian article which cited an anonymous friend of Tyler Robinson claiming he was the only "leftist" in his family?

It just got updated after the "verified source" decided he couldn't remember his "relationship" with the accused shooter well enough to be quoted

— Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) (@iwriteok.bsky.social) 2025-09-13T05:13:30.976Z

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/sep/12/charlie-kirk-shooter-suspect-latest-news-updates-donald-trump-utah?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-68c47b768f086519d327114d#block-68c47b768f086519d327114d

[pat_k]

1. Good for the guardian, but...

...they should have done proper due diligence before publishing!

[littlemissmartypants]

5. Or they were scared into changing their statement....

By internal or external forces.

[MadameButterfly]

10. That doesn't sound like the Guardian

or leftist who might be upset.

it seems more likely the source made assumptions like the rest of the right and claimed more knowledge than he had.

[Crunchy Frog]

12. That doesn't make any sense.

The people who do that sort of intimidation want the story to be true. They want the killer to be a "radical leftist".

[littlemissmartypants]

17. The friend who initially made the statement walked it back...

Then the Guardian walked back their reporting...

Is that right?

So, the so-called friend changed his/her/their mind for some reason, right?

What do you think caused the change?

[Crunchy Frog]

18. No idea. It wouldn't surprise me if this FBI tries very hard to build a case that the kid was antifa

or some other type of leftist, and that was his motive. Maybe even offer him clemency if he goes along with it.

But you're right, we have no idea what sorts of things go on in little Mormon towns. I had been thinking it was the paper you were talking about being intimidated.

[LiberalArkie]

23. Media used to have time to check.

Back when they were print media and national TV news was a 15 minute segment at 6PM followed by the 15 minute segment of local news, weather and sports.

They had all the time in the world to check. That really all changed with CNN and internet. I remember everyone laughing at CNN "There isn't enough news in the world to fill 1 hour of TV. Now with all the news services they just have to make it up to fill time and space.

[Celerity]

26. here is the original article, The Guardian did nothing wrong, they updated it after the source recanted ex post facto

https://archive.ph/JZCRP



and here is the retraction, showing that the source recanted after the publication of the original article

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/sep/12/charlie-kirk-shooter-suspect-latest-news-updates-donald-trump-utah?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-68c47b768f086519d327114d#block-68c47b768f086519d327114d

[Skittles]

36. yes

WTF

[AZJonnie]

2. Well, obviously he retracted because of all the intimidating hatred and threats that came in from the Radical Left!1!!!

Little bummed, I expect more reticence from the Guardian before posting something like this, TBH.

[Crunchy Frog]

13. Yeah. The right wingers on Shitter are certainly running with it.

[kkmarie]

3. Unfortunately the initial story is out there

And not many will read the retraction. Especially those who want the shooter to be a left wing woke trans lib.

RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW

#EpsteinFiles

[MadameButterfly]

11. It's discouraging that the Guardian

is fanning the flames of the RW attempt at making this a leftist thing

[RockRaven]

4. I pointed out in another thread that as originally written, that "friend" said they lost touch

with the shooter in 2021, which is four years ago -- and in the context of a current age of 22, that four years is an eternity. That was an anecdote of questionable relevance/usefulness from the start, even before the backtracking.

[patricia92243]

6. I haven't kept up with it. Is he registered to vote as a Republican or Democrat?

[wishstar]

7. Registered Unaffiliated but he didn't vote in 2024 election

No reports that shooter had any actual "leftist" or Democratic affiliations. Very early report from WSJ alleging engravings on ammo indicated trans or anti-fascist affiliation was thoroughly debunked as some of the marks were merely manufacturing prints while those done by shooter have been identified as video game and rightwing memes.

Parents were registered Repubs and grandmother stated that because entire family were strong MAGA she couldn't believe he would have been the shooter.

[MadameButterfly]

14. Whatever the shooters actual political beliefs

it seems a pattern that a MAGA family raises a person who sees violence as a possible solution. When I hear the father suspected his son of being the shooter, I tried to imagine if I saw a picture of a suspect who looked like my daughter. Would I suspect her? Hell no. I would KNOW she couldn't have done that.

This is a tragedy for this man and his family. i don't know exactly what went wrong. Politics alone can't do this, though I think the MAGA world is on some level a mental illness. He got a 34 on his ACT. Do you know how rare that is? He was a straight A student. He had a scholarship to college. He could have had a life.

[malaise]

8. One of the reasons why I love

The Guardian
Rec

[Walleye]

9. What difference does it make. He obviously doesn't belong to any of the groups they demonize.

They are probably calling him left us because he spoke up against Charlie Kirk. Everybody to them is a leftist. I don’t see how it makes any difference anyway, it’s political violence. Democratic Party always advocates for peaceful protest, not violence

[Crunchy Frog]

16. Oh, they're working very hard at creating a narrative of the killer being a "radical leftist".

It matters because they want to paint the Democratic Party and liberal organizations as dangerous and violent extremist organizations, because they want to be able to justify forcibly dissolving them and engaging in large scale repression against "dangerous extremist leftists".

Take a look at what Stephen Miller is up to.

Link to tweet

[Dr. T]

22. I thought their cult leader told them to tone down the rhetoric.

What a joke that was.

[sop]

15. The entire Republican party and corporate media establishment really, really wanted Robinson to be a "leftist."

They badly wanted him to be a transgender Antifa radical taking his marching orders from George Soros and Hillary Clinton. They created a template and started filling in the blanks with anything that might bolster their narrative.

[HeartsCanHope]

19. I thought the grandma said the entire family was right wing, did I get that wrong?

Couldn't find where I saw that.

[Kaleva]

20. It was an article in the Guardian

[HeartsCanHope]

21. Thanks, Kaleva!

[Kaleva]

24. It was actually the Daily Mail

“She spoke with the Daily Mail on Friday after news of Robinson’s arrest broke. “My son, his dad, is a Republican for Trump,” Debbie told the outlet. “Most of my family members are Republican. I don’t know any single one who’s a Democrat.”“

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/charlie-kirk-suspect-grandma-says-203008756.html

[HeartsCanHope]

25. Thank you, again!

Thanks for the link, too!

[yardwork]

29. The Daily Mail is not a reliable source.

I was warning DUers that yesterday. Yet it turns out the usually reliable Guardian was the source of this misinformation.

It's very difficult to trust any source right now.

[Kaleva]

31. Has what the grandmother said been refuted or retracted?

[yardwork]

32. Not that I've heard. The DM seems to have gotten this story mostly right.

Wonders never cease.

[Kaleva]

33. I'm open to looking at several, differing sources.

And compare where they agree or differ and then draw my own conclusions. At least that is what I try to do. Sometimes I’ll fall victim to confirmation bias and readily accept a report from one source only to be shown later that it was wrong.

One of the reasons I love DU is because of the feedback members give to a story.

[yardwork]

34. Same here.

This incident has been particularly difficult to sift through. It's partly because of the highly politicized nature of the Republican response, including the usual monstrously infantile reactions from Trump and his cronies.

Also, it's genuinely difficult to understand the mindset of the killer. He's part of a group of young people who are so immature and reactive their beliefs don't make any logical sense.

We're in a kind of post-political stage in this nation where a lot of people no longer fit into traditional left-right frameworks. Too many people believe a mishmash of foolish and objectively wrong things.

I suspect the shooter fits in that group. I find his messages on the bullets to be infantile.

[RVN VET71]

27. Not the Left but the Groyper propblem with Kirk

I think this'll be coming out in the mass media soon -- or never. The shooter had ties with the Groypers who despised Kirk and vice versa. It appears the assassination was caused by internal MAGA factional disputes.

Maybe the kid will be able to address that issue publicly -- unless he can't. But the evidence is there and, had we only a real FBI, it would turn up eventually.

[AloeVera]

30. Is there evidence he had ties with Groypers?

I would love to see that but haven't found anything yet.

[RVN VET71]

37. This is not "hard evidence" but suggests that the connection is there --

https://www.msn.com/en-us/crime/general/plot-twist-shocking-new-evidence-ties-kirk-s-accused-killer-to-far-right-leader-not-dems-who-maga-blamed-watch/ar-AA1MuhHl

The report also points out that many MAGA defenders of Kirk who had previously blamed the Dems and relished the opportunity to do so have now retracted there attacks on the Left.

As more evidence of the murderers connection in the internecine disputes between MAGA and Neo-Nazi groups, this story may recede in the media.

[yardwork]

28. Lying liars gonna lie. The damage is done.

[Montauk6]

35. Sound like yer run-of-the-mill Faux Noose style of journalism

"It's been said..."
GTFOH!