Author: Jesse

THE UTAH JAZZ WILL NOT WIN very many games this season. This has been proposed, voted on, and unanimously accepted by the board, and we must never question the board. In the modern age of NBA basketball, organizations typically pursue one of three strategies: win as many games as possible and try to win a championship (a bit vanilla, but if that’s your thing, I guess), abandon tradition and lose in the short-term to gradually build a competitive team over time, or be the Chicago Bulls.

Utah, as I’ve already established, is neck-deep in the waters of Loser River, which wraps around the cliffs of Draft Pick Peak, and breathes life into the valley of crushed dreams. Not exactly a popular tourist destination, but teams like Washington, Charlotte, and the like have been living there for years.

Advertisement

Since the Jazz took up residency in this forsaken land, their harvests have been less-than fruitful, digging out inefficient scorers, miserable defenders, and insufferable mediocracy to far outweigh the yield of capable NBA contributors. It’s been bleak: there’s no way around it. But for some reason, this year’s crops seem to have the village buzzing with anticipation.

The Jazz selected two prospects in the first round of this most recent NBA Draft (shoutout to John Tonje, by the way). Both of them seem to be capable contributors for an NBA team. Both of them bring distinct strengths. Both of them seem to send a deliberate and unmistakable message to anyone paying attention. That message?

The Utah Jazz are drafting with purpose

Two players who are capable of putting the ball in the basket. Two players with real, translateable NBA talent. Two players who are less than 50% hypothetical. Two players who will bring meaningful basketball to the Salt Lake Valley.

Advertisement

These are two players who show immediate promise. No fancy-pants analytics that suggest that, given all the right circumstances, a player may or may not possibly become a sort of decent player at the NBA level. Nope: this pair of hoopers passes the eye test. They pass on the box score. Yes, professor, they pass with flying colors. Do you want to know why?

Utah didn’t mess around this time: they only drafted great basketball players.

Allow me to reintroduce the first steps to competitive basketball in Utah: Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr.

Ace Bailey: Finally, some real upside

He’s the typical home-run swing from this era of the Utah Jazz, only this time, they have the benefit of vision. They didn’t blindly swing at this guy (and no examples will be named). No, this is a player with obvious upside. A player whose best traits will show up on the court from day one, and who possesses actual, tangible tools. Tools that fit in your hands. Make an imprint. Take a natural human motion and multiply its effectiveness. With Ace, there’s no “if it all works out” or “in theory, he could” justifications — he’ll gladly show you his workshop if you have your doubts. He was a star in high school, he was a star in college, and if his trajectory is to be believed, he’ll excel in the NBA, too.

Advertisement

His weaknesses are present, of course, and I don’t mean to suggest he doesn’t hold the proverbial “untapped potential” that most lottery teams have to dig for outside the top three (or the entire 2024 class, for that matter). Ace has been known to take regular shots that any non-Kobe or Jordan players likely don’t have any business attempting, though he scores at a curiosity-inducing rate. Shot selection can easily be corrected with proper coaching and experience, though, so there’s no need to side-eye the panic button.

Utah drafted him to be a scoring wing, though, and I don’t subscribe to the narrative that all great players have to be all-world passers.

His vision can be shoddy, be it an unwillingness to pass or a blind confidence that any shot he takes is, in fact, the best-case scenario for his squad. But this year will be the first time Ace isn’t the star player for his team (co-star, in Dylan Harper’s case), and his shot attempts will almost certainly take a dip as he adapts to a higher level of hoops. Utah drafted him to be a scoring wing, though, and I don’t subscribe to the narrative that all great players have to be all-world passers.

Sure, standing at six feet and ten inches (depending on who you ask) has its drawbacks. His dribble hasn’t been particularly tight. It’s like watching a hundred-year-old oak tree try to snatch your ankles — the ball just has to travel so far from his hand to the floor. He won’t burn many defenders in a clean-cut, no-resistance dribble move, nor did he really need to. He’s a tough player, though. Happy to assert his dominance physically and meet at the rim in a happy-birthday-I’m-going-to-shove-this-entire-cake-down-your-throat type of way before assaulting the cylinder.

As seen in Summer League, Ace’s 6’10” frame was well-utilized for inhaling rebounds. Paired with exceptional athleticism, many of those boards were hand-delivered right back to the rim (if you could just sign here, sir). Tremendous lateral quickness, length, elasticity, and burst are not only critical qualities of a rubber band; these adjectives could just as easily describe why Bailey projects so well as a defender. His instincts are strong, and it shows on the stat sheet — 1.0 steals and 1.3 blocks at Rutgers. As his frame matures and adds muscle, he could become an excellent switching defender capable of covering the perimeter while also deterring errant shot attempts.

Advertisement

It’s not all perfect, and there are reasons he slipped from the projected second pick at the beginning of the season down to Utah’s awaiting arms in the fifth slot on draft night. Keep in mind, there is no such thing as a “sure-thing, can’t-miss” prospect in the NBA, but Ace is the best player Utah has selected since Donovan Mitchell, and I don’t think I’ll get much push-back from that statement.

Walter Clayton Jr: all killer, no filler

By the end of the season, you’ll see his name crawling up the order in re-drafts, because he’s ready to play right out of the box. The Final Four Most Outstanding Player for the national champion Florida Gators, Clayton went from an undersized point guard with Iona to the best player on the best team in the country.

He was an absolute necromancer in March Madness, breathing life into his team and resurfacing his brothers from the dead with inconceivable shotmaking in the clutch. I mean, the last four minutes of this video alone should convince you that this guy was probably the best shooter in all of college hoops, and I don’t say that lightly.

Advertisement

The guy is a flat-out killer.

The NBA is finally beginning to heal from the idiotic “raw 19-year-old is more valuable than a proven winner” phase of drafting. The Jazz traded up to grab Clayton because they saw the tape and drew a reasonable conclusion that Walt has a distinct and individual talent that should translate effortlessly to the NBA. 3-point shooting is a valuable skill, especially for a point guard, and you can’t deny that this kid from Florida has a rich taste for three-balls.

Walt looked just as capable in Summer League, outshining last season’s starting point guard, Isaiah Collier, in the offseason. He hit shots. He handled the rock. He found his spots and scored like a veteran. He even flashed improved playmaking ability, a skill he popped as a senior, averaging his most dimes per game by a full assist per game. With the Gators, he dropped 18 points per game while knocking through over 38% of his three-pointers. Yes, even shooting bonkers shots like those you saw in the clip, he’s not a heat-check guy — he’s just pure heat.

…he’s not a heat-check guy — he’s just pure heat.

Look at a player. Observe obvious talent. Draft player. It can be as simple as that, yet that hasn’t been Utah’s drafting philosophy before Austin Ainge took over.

Advertisement

Keyonte George was taken with the hope that his inefficient scoring would be optimized and his playmaking would flourish. Cody Williams was snagged almost entirely based on hypotheticals and has yet to verify the Jazz’s pre-draft faith in him. Isaiah Collier was picked with the hope that he could turn a stiff and broken jump shot into something reliable and hovering around league average.

It’s still early, but all of these players’ pre-draft concerns remain concerns now post-draft.

For the record, Kyle Filipowski has been awesome.

But Utah was deliberate in selecting this year’s batch of hoopers. They knew who they wanted, and they got their guys. Ace sliding to fifth was a micro-miracle and best-case scenario. Walter Clayton was rumored to be Miami-bound before Utah swooped in. The Jazz have a strategy, and it’s being enacted. Still miles from anything resembling contention, of course, but this year’s class gives Jazz fans plenty of reason to rekindle their faith.

Calvin Barrett is a writer, editor, and prolific Mario Kart racer located in Tokyo, Japan. He has covered the Utah Jazz and BYU athletics since 2024.

The Utah Mammoth play their first two NHL games on Sunday — kind of.

It’ll be their first pair of games under the new “Mammoth” branding, excluding the Rookie Showcase outings. That being said, it’s still just the preseason.

Advertisement

The NHL preseason is part of training camp, meaning many of the players on the roster are battling for permanent spots within the organization. While there are a few guidelines on the minimum number of veterans a team can dress, it often results in lopsided competitions.

For example, if the Mammoth decide to mostly use AHL-caliber players on Sunday, while their opponents, the Colorado Avalanche, want to get early looks at Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see the latter guys to walk away with a wheelbarrow full of points.

The first few preseason games typically feature a number of players who aren’t yet expected to make it to the NHL. As guys get cut from the training camp roster, the regular NHLers start making appearances. By the time the last preseason game rolls around, the team should be more or less set, with just a bit of tinkering left to do.

What are the minimum roster requirements for an NHL preseason game?

Each team must dress at least eight “veterans” in every preseason game. Anyone who meets at least one of these criteria is considered a veteran in this case:

Advertisement

• A forward or defenseman who played at least 30 games last season

• A goalie who either dressed for 50 games or played in 30 games last season

• A player who was selected in the first round of the draft this year

• A player who has played 100 NHL games or more in his career

This guarantees at least a minimum level of competitive nature in preseason games and gives the paying fans a little more for their money.

All that being said, the new CBA will overhaul the preseason starting next year. While teams are currently free to play anywhere from six to eight exhibition games each fall, they will be capped at four, and anyone with 100 or more games of NHL experience will not be allowed to play in more than two of them.

That change comes with an added two games of regular season action, expanding the total to 84 per team.

Utah Mammoth preseason schedule

The Mammoth have seven preseason games this year. The schedule is as follows, with all times listed in MDT:

Advertisement

• Sept. 21: @ Colorado Avalanche (split-squad, meaning they play two games with two different rosters on the same day), 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

• Sept. 22: @ Anaheim Ducks, 8 p.m.

• Sept. 25: @ Vegas Golden Knights, 8 p.m.

• Oct. 2: vs. Los Angeles Kings, 7 p.m.

• Oct. 4: vs. San Jose Sharks, 7 p.m.

The game against the Kings on Oct. 2 will be the first public event at the Delta Center since the renovations started.

It’s not yet confirmed whether Utah Mammoth preseason games will be available on SEG+, but the team said fans should be able to stream all of them online in one form or another.

Storylines to watch in the Utah Mammoth’s preseason

Most of the NHL roster is more or less set, barring any major mishaps or injuries. Outside of those players, though, there are a few jobs up for grabs.

That creates interesting storylines for fans to follow throughout camp. Here are a few of them.

Will any rookies make the team?

If you’ve heard GM Bill Armstrong speak publicly since the draft, you’ve probably heard him refer to his “six first-rounders” who are pushing for NHL jobs. While it’s not realistic to expect all of them to make it this year, some of them could potentially push veterans out of their spots.

Advertisement

Dmitri Simashev is chief among them. The 6-foot-5 Russian is a Gagarin Cup champion (the grand prize in the KHL, the top league in Europe) and he’s ready to prove himself as an NHL player. He had impressive showings at both development camp and rookie camp, but now he has to do it against true NHL players at training camp.

Maveric Lamoureux, another big defenseman, also has the potential to turn some heads — although his performance in the Rookie Showcase has created some doubt amongst the fanbase. But elite athletes tend to be able to use other people’s doubt as their fuel and become better for it. We’ll see if “MavLam” can do the same.

To date, Tij Iginla is the only player to ever score while wearing a home Utah Mammoth jersey. That will change soon, but he’ll always be able to say he was the first. The 19-year-old is coming off of double hip surgery, and it cost him a good chunk of last season. That, combined with his relatively small frame by NHL standards, might necessitate another WHL season, but he’ll have the chance to show what he’s worth at training camp first.

Cole Beaudoin is known for his workhorse mentality, both on the ice and in the weight room. He came to rookie camp bigger and stronger this year. At training camp last season, he performed so well that it almost seemed like he had an outside shot at making the team. If he can do the same this year, maybe they start him in the NHL.

Advertisement

Daniil But probably isn’t NHL-ready yet, but he’ll have every chance to prove otherwise at camp. He’s a big body with plenty of potential. He won the Gagarin Cup with Simashev and his comparable players are off the charts.

Caleb Desnoyers will not make the team out of camp because he won’t be on the ice at camp. He recently underwent wrist surgery and is expected to be out until early November.

Which depth forwards will make the team?

Michael Carcone and Liam O’Brien both took frequent turns in the press box last year, while Kailer Yamamoto spent the bulk of the season in the AHL. With the likes of Beaudoin, But and Iginla pushing for spots too, it should be a competitive camp.

Advertisement

It seems there are spots for two or three of them, depending on how many of their healthy scratch slots they want to fill with forwards.

Carcone and Yamamoto are especially coming in with something to prove. Neither one got the playing time they thought they deserved last year, so it will be up to them to leave the coaching staff no choice.

What’s going on with all of Utah’s defensemen?

With six defensemen on the ice every night and one to two in the press box, it’s clear that there will be a log jam on the back end. Utah has 12 defensemen that were on NHL rosters at some point last year:

• Mikhail Sergachev

• John Marino

• Sean Durzi

• Olli Määttä

• Nate Schmidt

• Nick DeSimone

• Maveric Lamoureux

• Juuso Välimäki (injured, projected to be out until November or December)

• Scott Perunovich

• Kevin Connauton

• Makysimilian Szuber

And that’s not including Dmitri Simashev or Artem Duda, who could both realistically propel themselves into one of those spots, too.

Advertisement

They also have a number of AHL defensemen on two-way contracts who don’t likely have a shot at cracking the roster this year.

Armstrong said on free agency day that he doesn’t anticipate any injuries to defensemen (other than Välimäki) to start the season. Unless something has happened since then, this will be a competitive race.

When 109-year-old Frances Mitchell was asked if she feels lucky to have lived so long, she gave a simple response.

“Of course, I think I deserve it,” Mitchell said with a smile.

Mitchell was the oldest person in attendance at Utah’s Centenarian Celebration hosted by the Division of Aging and Adult Services and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Tuesday.

The governor gave brief remarks and then he and his wife, first lady Abby Cox, went around the room greeting each member of the “Century Club” and taking pictures with them.

“It’s easy sometimes to get a little discouraged about who we are and in the bad things that are happening in our country, in our world, and sadly, in our backyard,” the governor said in his remarks. “I try to look for the good that’s out there. And I’m proud to say that there is so much more good in Utah than there is evil.”

He also shared how much of an inspiration each of the centenarians are.

“It’s easy for us to think that everything is so bad and it’s the worst it’s ever been, but we have a bunch of people in this room that know that it’s not the worst it’s ever been. You are an inspiration to all of us the way you have lived your lives,” Cox said.

The governor also shared that Utah has been named the best state in the country multiple years in a row, but went on credit the centenarians with the state’s greatness.

“You built this state. The decisions that you made, the lives that you lived, the families that you raised, the businesses that you started, the service that you gave to your neighbors and your communities, are what made it so we could be named the best state in the country,” Cox said.

The event was introduced by Division of Aging and Adult Services director Nels Holmgren, who thanked all in attendance for being there.

“Our centenarians have their own remarkable stories to tell about. Their more than 100 years of amazing experiences,” Holmgren said.

Words of wisdom from Utah’s centenarians

The Deseret News sat down with a few members of Utah’s Century Club asking them to share life lessons they have learned as well as their secrets to living such long lives.

Mitchell’s life lesson she would like to tell young people is that they should be friendly people, make good friends and honor them.

When asked what her secret is to living so long, Mitchell said it’s because she is “stubborn.”

Phyllis Ockerman, 103, was one of 11 people and two women at the event who served in the military during World War II. Ockerman was a Navy nurse and when asked what she would want young people today to know that she wished she knew, she said “things will work out.”

Another piece of advice Ockerman gave was “Watch your words, because you can’t get them back.”

Floyd Anderson, 102, another World War II veteran, said his advice is for people to be involved in diverse experiences. He added that everyone should hold on to areas of life that are constructive and get rid of things that are destructive.

Wayne Clayson, the oldest man at the celebration on Tuesday, said his advice to younger people is that “they should learn how to be friends.”

Clayson, along with multiple other members of the Century Club said that attitude is a huge part of living a long time, if you have a good attitude it makes life better.

Esther Orr, 104, another veteran who served in the Army during World War II, echoed that same sentiment.

“My two words are attitude, perseverance,” Orr said when asked her secret to living so long. “And always be happy.”

Orr also shared that she believes the young people today should “be kind to others, and volunteer, if possible, to help others.”

Helen Joe Stoddard, 102, who used to teach nutrition shared that she believes good nutrition has helped her live past the age of 100.

Another thing that was repeated by multiple centenarians sharing how they have lived so long is “staying active,” and being around other people such as friends and family.

Utah’s ‘Century Club’ by the numbers

• There are a total of 154 centenarians currently living in Utah, 124 women and 30 men. At Tuesday’s event 56 centenarians were present, 46 women and 10 men.
• The oldest people in Utah are three women; Betty Mendoza, who is 113, and Lucille Robbins and Vera Dugdale, who are both 112.
• The oldest men in the Century Club are Milton Christensen, Paul Nkoy and Leon Tapia, who are all 110.
• Salt Lake County has the highest number of Utah’s centenarians with 84, followed by Utah County with 18 and Weber County which has 16.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University (UVU) last Wednesday raised questions about whether a potential lack of security protocols could be to blame for the conservative activist’s death.

“There were not a lot of cops there. I’ve seen more cops at UVU for sporting events than right now,” a witness identified only as Sam, a local high school student, told KUTV right after the shooting on Wednesday. Sam also wondered why there weren’t stricter security measures, such as bag checks before the event.

“They had cops above on the walkways who were stopping — what I assume — people from throwing stuff down towards him. So, I wonder why there wasn’t any level of security taken to stop people around, like, in front of him or anything like that,” he added.

Kirk often appeared at venues where he faced strong criticism, going toe-to-toe with his harshest opponents on campuses and venues across the country.

NEW VIDEO APPEARS TO SHOW ALLEGED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN NEAR CAMPUS HOURS BEFORE SHOOTING

Law enforcement officials work near the crime scene where political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 11, 2025.  (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Less than two weeks before his event at UVU, a central California sheriff’s department conducted three days of reconnaissance ahead of a speech by the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder, according to The Associated Press.

The outlet reported that officials researched escape routes and identified local activists who opposed Kirk. Additionally, 60 law enforcement officers were sent to monitor the 2,000-person event, the AP reported, adding that a drone was deployed to secure surrounding rooftops.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux spoke with the AP about the preparations taken for the event.

“The very nature of Charlie Kirk coming in requires you take special attention to the nuances of what could possibly happen,” Boudreaux said. “He’s a high profile name and personality. Not only do we have to provide for the safety of people attending, we have to provide for the safety of him.”

A crowd is seen fleeing on the Utah Valley University campus after a gunman opened fire and killed conservative speaker Charlie Kirk.  (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

SCRUTINY INTENSIFIES OVER SECURITY LAPSES SURROUNDING THE CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTING

Only six campus police officers — about one-quarter of the force — were assigned to work Kirk’s UVU event, according to The AP. The use of drones in California brings into question why such measures were not taken at UVU as the shooter fired at Kirk from atop a building, mirroring the near assassination of then-candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pa.

Eric O’Neill, a former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative, spoke to The Hill about the challenges of securing an outdoor venue.

“It’s very difficult to lock down, from a security standpoint, an area that large, particularly when there’s outlying buildings,” O’Neill said. 

While he compared the assassination of Kirk to the Trump shooting, O’Neill acknowledged that the TPUSA CEO would not have the same level of security as a then-former-president-turned-presidential-candidate.

People hold candles and sing during a memorial and prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of assassinating Kirk, allegedly arrived at the venue at 11:52 a.m. MT and headed to the Losee Center on campus. The event started a few minutes later, around 12:00 p.m. MT, and the shooting began at 12:23 p.m. It did not take long for the campus to be cleared, with UVU saying police went “building to building” escorting students and campus officials off the grounds by 12:30 p.m. 

Just over an hour later, Trump confirmed Kirk did not survive the attack.

A school spokesperson told Fox News Digital that UVU Police, in conjunction with the Orem Police Department, Utah Department of Public Safety and the FBI, started investigating the shooting. Robinson’s family recognized him from surveillance images released by law enforcement and later reported to authorities that they believed he carried out the shooting.

Fox News Digital reached out to UVU Police for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Sabes and Stepheny Price and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Utah Jazz are a team at an inflection point. They haven’t been good since the trades of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, but before that this team was a fixture in the postseason race. This offseason for Utah was one that could’ve seen them make massive strides as a team. No one had better odds to win the NBA’s Draft Lottery. The team has several interesting young players who they could move, including Eurobasket star Lauri Markkannen. Instead, the Jazz fell all the way to 5^th in the lottery, where they took a potentially disgruntled Ace Bailey. However, the pickup of Walter Clayton is one that I do like quite a bit.

The Northwest Division is occupied by three title contenders, a borderline play-in team, and the Utah Jazz, who were in that top tier not too long ago. But an antsy front office and dedicated fan base probably expect to pull themselves out of the basement here before long. What does that mean for the team now, and how ready is Utah going to be to make deals and start winning again? Your guess is as good as mine.

Utah Jazz: Over/Under 18.5 wins (-114/-106)

Last season: 17-65

Additions: Ace Bailey (5^th pick), Walter Clayton (18^th pick), John Tonje (2^nd round) Georges Niang, whatever they get for Kevin Love in a trade

Losses: Jordan Clarkson (Knicks), John Collins (Clippers)

To use an analogy from the housing world, the Jazz have good bones but need a lot of work to be a finished product. They’re very well coached, as I am a firm believer in Will Hardy. Lauri Markkannen is a very good player who can be a championship level guy. If they can hit on Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton, they can be “fun bad” this year. But as patience starts to wear out in Salt Lake City, I wonder if they’ll feel compelled to make a move here before too long. Time will tell.

Prediction: Over 18.5 wins, but not by much

Odds via the Fanduel Sportsbook and are subject to change. Wager responsibly!

Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter is “not cooperating” with the investigators and has not confessed to the assassination of the notable US conservative influencer in Utah last week, Governor Spencer Cox said on Sunday.

The authorities were still piecing together information about the 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, and were not ready to discuss a motive at this time, Cox said. However, he noted that Robinson disliked Kirk and may have been “radicalised” online.

According to Cox, his family and friends who are cooperating with the investigation, said Robinson became more political in recent years and has spent large amounts of time scrolling the “dark corners of the internet.”

Cox said that the investigation so far showed Robinson was left-leaning. “There clearly was a leftist ideology,” Cox said for US TV channel NBC citing interviews with Robinson’s relatives and acquaintances.

“Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.”

He pointed to references found engraved on the ammunition used to kill Kirk, which included anti-fascist and meme-culture language. Court records show that one bullet casing had the message, “Hey, fascist! Catch!”.

Some have disputed that Robinson was left-wing, claiming that he hails from a conservative Utah background and could have instead possibly been a part of the Groyper movement, an extreme online faction of “involuntarily celibate” people or incels, who share alt-right, antisemitic and Christian nationalist beliefs led by activist Nick Fuentes.

Fuentes, who, with Kirk, is part of a key group of young conservative influencers supportive of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, distanced himself from the claims Robinson was a Groyper, calling them “pure evil”.

“My followers and I are currently being framed for the murder of Charlie Kirk by the mainstream media based on literally zero evidence,” he said on a post on X.

The governor said more information may come out once Robinson appears in court Tuesday.

Related

Another claim has emerged that the suspect’s partner was transgender, which some politicians have pointed to as a sign Robinson was targeting Kirk for his anti-transgender views.

However, the authorities have not said whether it is relevant as they investigate Robinson’s motive, and media reports have been inconclusive as to whether this person was Robinson’s partner or one of his roommates.

“The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female,” Cox said. “I can say that … this partner has been very cooperative, had no idea that this was happening.”

A Republican who has called on all partisans to tone down their rhetoric following the attack, Cox said, “I really don’t have a dog in this fight.”

“If this was a radicalised MAGA person, I’d be saying that as well,” he ephasised.

Prestigious scholarship abandoned?

Investigators have spoken to Robinson’s relatives and carried out a search warrant at his family’s home in Washington, Utah, about 390 kilometres southwest of Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot last Wednesday.

State records show Robinson is registered to vote but not affiliated with a political party and is listed as inactive, meaning he did not vote in the two most recent general elections. His parents are registered Republicans.

Robinson grew up around St George, in the southwestern corner of Utah, between Las Vegas and natural landmarks including Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.

He became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church, at a young age, church spokesperson Doug Andersen said.

Online activity by Robinson’s mother reflects an active family that travelled widely. In one photo, a young Robinson can be seen smiling as he grips the handles of a .50-calibre heavy machine gun outside a military facility.

Related

A high school honours student who scored in the 99th percentile nationally on standardised tests, he was admitted to Utah State University in 2021 on a prestigious academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter that was posted to a family member’s social media account.

But he attended for only one semester, according to the university. He is currently enrolled as a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St George.