Charlie Kirk's accused killer arranged his own arrest because he was afraid of being shot

Will Tyler Robinson Face a Firing Squad?

By Robert A. Waters

Sometimes irony cuts deep.

Tyler James Robinson, the accused shooter of Charlie Kirk, worked out a deal with cops to surrender peacefully because he didn't want to be shot.

How nuts is that?

Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby emphasized to reporters that the suspect was "fearful of being shot" by a SWAT Team.

Most of the world has seen the horrific video of Kirk's death. (I watched it once and never want to see it again.)

Within about 30 hours of Kirk's assassination, Robinson's mug was on every television set in the universe. At that point, he knew it was over. So he called a former Washington County detective his family knew and arranged to surrender. 

Can you imagine that conversation? "I want to give myself up because I don't want cops busting down the door and 'unaliving' me?" 

Utah is one of the few states that administers the death penalty by firing squad. 

Killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad on June 18, 2010 for murdering attorney Michael Burdell during an attempted jailbreak. 

The New York Times described Gardner's death: "He was seated in a chair in front of a wooden panel and in between stacked sandbags to keep the bullets from ricocheting around the room. 

"After a black hood was slipped over his head, a small circular paper was attached to his heart.

"Five anonymous executioners were lined up roughly 25 feet from the chair, four of them with real rounds in their .30-caliber Winchester rifles and one with a dummy round, so that none of the five would know whether they had carried out the fatal shot.

"Following a quiet countdown, a series of shots in two short bursts was heard...[Gardner] clinched his fist and then let go. And then he clenched it again."  

Robinson did loads of research about Charlie Kirk and his whereabouts on that fateful morning. According to the FBI, he climbed up on a roof, aimed his gun and took the life of a man who was exercising his right to free speech.

But being afraid to die by gunshot himself, maybe he should have done more research on the death penalty in Utah. Reading the above Times article might have deterred him.

If he's proven guilty, I believe it would be fitting for Robinson to face the firing squad.