Charlie Kirk murder suspect Tyler Robinson to make 1st in-person court appearance
Tyler Robinson, 22, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, appears before Judge Tony Graf of the 4th District Court via a video confrerence call during a hearing on September 16, 2025 at the Fouth Judicial District Courthouse in Provo, Utah. (Scott G Winterton – Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is set to make his first in-person court appearance on Thursday.
Kirk was shot and killed in the middle of his outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10. The 31-year-old was the founder of the conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA, and the Utah Valley event marked the first stop of his “The American Comeback Tour,” which invited students on college campuses to debate hot-button issues.
Robinson, 22, allegedly fled the scene of the shooting, prompting a massive manhunt. Robinson surrendered to authorities on the night of Sept. 11.
Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.
He made two previous court appearances, but the first was virtual and the second was audio-only.
He has not entered a plea. He could face the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder.
(NEW YORK) — Two New Jersey teenagers have been arrested in connection with an alleged ISIS-inspired Halloween attack in Michigan that the FBI announced it had thwarted last week, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The NYPD and FBI-Newark arrested Tomas Kaan Guzel, 19, before he could board a flight to Istanbul, the sources said.
A second 19-year-old, Milo Sedanet, was also arrested, according to sources.
Two other men, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, were arrested on Friday for their alleged roles in the plot, according to court records unsealed on Monday.
They allegedly “used online encrypted communications and social media applications to share extremist and ISIS-related materials,” and allegedly used the term “pumpkin day” for their plans, according to the complaint.
According to sources, an NYPD undercover had been monitoring Guzel, who was allegedly in communication with those arrested in Michigan and others overseas. The group allegedly talked about an attack on the LGBTQ community in Detroit and about traveling to Syria to train with ISIS, sources said.
Guzel allegedly had planned to travel in two weeks to Turkey and onward to Syria from there, but it’s believed he got spooked after last week’s arrests and moved his flight up, sources said.
There were searches at his home in Montclair and also in Seattle as part of the investigation, the sources said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A potential nor’easter is beginning to develop off the coast of Florida on Friday, which could pose a threat to the East Coast this weekend into next week. Major cities and coastal areas in the Northeast could see heavy rain, gusty winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion.
The cold front that has brought chilly temperatures across the Northeast stalled out over the Florida Peninsula on Friday morning, with a low-pressure system developing in its wake along the Southeast coast later on Friday into Saturday that will track parallel to the East Coast.
By Sunday into Monday, the storm will skirt North Carolina’s Outer Banks and spin off the Jersey Shore before pulling away later in the day on Tuesday into Wednesday.
Over the next several days, this potential nor’easter will bring a plethora of impacts to the East Coast, with some threats even extending well inland.
Coastal areas from the Carolinas up to Long Island and southern coastal New England will bear the brunt of this storm, with winds reaching up to 60 mph, rain totals hitting between 2 to 5-plus inches, moderate to major tidal flooding and significant beach erosion.
Inland areas, including along the Interstate 95 corridor, could see up to 2 inches of rain and wind gusts reaching anywhere between 20 to 40 mph.
The heaviest rain totals will come from Saturday through Tuesday, bringing concerns of flash flooding, gusty winds and coastal flooding.
High wind watches have been issued for southern Delaware, coastal New Jersey and Long Island from Sunday morning through the overnight hours into Monday, with sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts of 60 mph or more.
Coastal flood watches have also already been issued from the Outer Banks of North Carolina up to coastal Massachusetts for Sunday through Monday for at least minor to moderate flooding. Areas from Delaware up to the Jersey Shore and Long Island could see moderate to potentially major impacts, with structural damage possible in coastal and bayside communities.
Additionally, significant beach erosion is also possible along the East Coast, especially from the Outer Banks up to coastal New England.
(NORFOLK, Va.) — The mother of Angelina “Angie” Resendiz, the 21-year-old Navy sailor whose body was found near her Norfolk, Virginia, base on June 9, days after she was reported missing, is pushing the Navy for accountability as the suspect charged in her daughter’s murder awaits his trial.
Esmeralda Castle spoke with “ABC News Live Prime” from her home in Brownsville, Texas, where she reflected on her grief and healing journey and claimed that the Navy mishandled her daughter’s disappearance and the investigation into her death.
“There is an injustice happening in the way that service members are treated and the way the family is treated,” Castle told ABC News on Thursday, alleging that a culture steeped in silence has prevented her from getting answers about her daughter’s case.
Asked about those allegations, the Navy declined ABC News’ requests for comment.
“I’ve been thinking about Angie and her service. What she represented was something good,” Castle said, reflecting on her fight for justice. “She represented service at its highest. She’s giving herself and all that she is, all her talents and strengths and abilities, her mind, her youth, to the military, to this branch — for us. And that’s an honorable thing.”
Angie’s disappearance
Resendiz, who was from Mexia — a city in central Texas that is located about 30 miles outside of Waco — was a culinary specialist stationed at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
“She comes from a family of service members. My brother and sister, they’re in the Army. Her father was a Marine,” Castle said, adding that her daughter loved to cook and wanted to be a chef, so joining the Navy in a culinary role was a dream.
“It was ‘a calling’ is what she said, like recruiters were at the high school and they talked to her and she felt it,” she added.
About a year and a half after her daughter joined the Navy, Castle told ABC News that on May 29 her daughter’s friends reached out to her to express concern that they could not reach or locate her. According to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Resendiz was last seen at her barracks in Millner Hall at the Naval Station in Norfolk at around 10 a.m. local time on May 29.
Castle said that she immediately called the Navy and reported her daughter missing, but was told that her daughter was located shortly after.
“He’s like oh yeah. … we found her you know, she’s OK, we found her in another sailor’s room. Everything’s OK,” Castle said. “I believed him.”
When Resendiz didn’t show up to work the next day and her family and friends still couldn’t get a hold of her, Castle said she was worried and reached out to the Navy again. Resendiz’s friends reported her missing to police and, on June 3, a missing person’s alert was issued by the Virginia State Police. On June 6 — more than a week after she was last seen — NCIS released a statement announcing that they were investigating Resendiz’s disappearance.
“It felt like, like a punch, like a punch in your gut,” Castle said. “Like, it takes your air away. … It just brings you to your knees.”
Castle noted that after her daughter’s body was found, she “got a few messages apologizing for the silence.”
ABC News reached out to the Navy multiple times, but they declined requests for comment.
“Given the ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to provide amplifying comments on your inquiries,” a spokesperson for NCIS told ABC News.
An individual familiar with the NCIS investigation told ABC News that they “immediately commenced a variety of investigative steps,” including interviewing family, friends and command members, after receiving a notification from the Norfolk Police Department regarding Resendiz’s disappearance on May 31.
“These actions increased in number over the next 10 calendar days and resulted in the recovery of Seaman Resendiz’s remains,” the individual added.
The suspect
Seaman Jeremiah T. Copeland, a culinary specialist in the Navy, was initially held in pre-trial confinement following Resendiz’s death.
On Aug. 22, he was charged with “premeditated murder,” as well as a slew of sexual assault charges related to several alleged survivors, according to charging documents obtained by ABC News. The charges stem from incidents that allegedly took place between July 2024 through June 2025.
Charging documents show that Copeland is also facing charges that stem from alleged actions during the investigation into Resendiz’s death. Copeland is accused of concealing a dead body on June 2, obstructing justice by hiding his cell phone on June 4, as well as making false statements to NCIS investigators on June 1 and June 3.
Copeland appeared in a Naval court in Norfolk on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. It is unclear if he has entered a plea. ABC News reached out to Copeland’s attorney but requests for comment were not returned.
His trial is scheduled to begin next June.
The names of additional alleged victims, as well as Resendiz’s name, were redacted from the charging documents that the Navy shared with ABC News, but Castle confirmed to ABC News in September that the murder charge Copeland is facing is related to her daughter’s death.
“Heartbreak,” Castle said when asked what she is going through after her daughter’s death. “They call it grief, it’s called a process. Different emotions — overwhelming anger, sadness.”
It is unclear when the investigation into Copeland’s actions was launched. ABC News reached out to NCIS and the Navy to inquire about the timeline and ask whether the Navy was aware of other potential victims ahead of Resendiz’s, but requests for comment were denied.
“Given the ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to provide amplifying comments on your inquiries,” a spokesperson for NCIS told ABC News.
‘I have to help my kid’
After her daughter’s death, Castle told ABC News that she is turning her pain into purpose by fighting for answers and calling for reform for all military members.
“I have to help my kid,” she said.
Castle announced on Oct. 14 that she is seeking the Democratic nomination for the District 37 seat in the Texas state House of Representatives where she hopes to push for reforms and safeguards to keep women in the military safe.
“This campaign isn’t about politics; it’s about people — about compassion, community, resilience, and hope,” Castle said as she announced her run to ABC News’ affiliate station.
When asked about why she chose to run, Castle echoed her daughter’s sentiment in joining the Navy.
“It feels like a calling,” she told ABC News.
Castle expressed her hope that her daughter’s case will be a “catalyst” for change — and that she will keep fighting at all costs.
She hopes to testify before a congressional committee in Washington, D.C., she said, to push for building protections for all service members and ensuring that the military is held accountable.
“I just remember [Angie] in the best light possible — not a victim,” she said. “She’s a victim, but I want people to remember her as someone who loved her life and lived her life and wasn’t afraid to do whatever she wanted.”
