A police mugshot shows Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. The 22-year-old is a registered voter in Utah but does not have a party affiliation. Social media photos from Robinson’s mother, Amber, depict a tight-knit family where Tyler was the oldest of three sons. Neighbors of the Robinson family told USA TODAY that they attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose members are colloquially known as Mormons.

Charlie Kirk fought for the souls of Gen Z.

As a mother of Gen Z and Alpha kids, I appreciated this so much. My kids − and millions of others − have been deeply affected by his life. Many adults may not understand the footprint Kirk left, but parents like me do.

Kirk understood the pressures young people face in the dark corners of the web − apps, chats and social media spaces − where far-right and far-left political ideology radicalizes young people to think or do terrible, even violent, things. It's like an illness lurking in front of us, luring young people in like an infectious disease.

By contrast, Kirk engaged Gen Z in honest, serious and sometimes frivolous debate, even when they came dressed as Satan or bearing a bullhorn.

Kirk told these kids that a relationship with God, a core set of conservative beliefs and determination to live life with boldness and courage was the cure, the antidote, to this disease.

In the wake of his horrifying assassination, we are now seeing how correct he was. The battle for Generation Z, born between 1997 to 2012, has been waging online and in the real world for some time. Parents should pay attention.

Officials said Tyler Robinson had become 'indoctrinated'

Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, appears to be undergoing a significant but recent change of beliefs after seemingly growing up in a Republican family. From what I can glean so far, authorities say he seemed to have been radicalized by the exact kind of online influences that Kirk was working against.

"It's very clear to us and to the investigators that this was a person who was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told The Wall Street Journal on Sept. 13.

Robinson had a live-in partner in the process of transitioning from male to female and who has been cooperating with investigators.

Police reported the bullet casings connected with Kirk's assassination featured phrases, "Hey, fascist! Catch!" and "If you read this, you are gay, LMAO."

Those phrases appear to be part of an online culture that parents may not be familiar with.

I worry about raising children in this dark digital world

Many social media accounts have celebrated Kirk's gruesome fatal shooting, an extension of the online ghoulishness he stood against. CNN reports that as a result, dozens of health care professionals, teachers and university professors, for example, have been fired for their social posts.

Both these things − the suspect's unnerving views that might have led to violence, perhaps exacerbated by extremism incubating in the digital world, and the response to this violence ‒ could lead any of us, especially parents like myself, to nihilism and despair as we think about the job of raising kids in this always online world.

But Kirk offered hope in life. And I predict the void left by his untimely death will produce the same hope now: a generation of young people committed to the kind of life he urged.

Charlie Kirk's death can be a rallying cry for young conservatives

Kirk's death has already begun to galvanize the very generation he was already trying to help through Turning Point USA. Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of "The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast, posted on X that Turning Point USA "has received over 32,000 inquiries in the last 48-hours to start new campus chapters." Currently, the organization only has "900 official college chapters and around 1,200 high school chapters, with a presence on 3,500 total."

Within hours of his assassination, I saw Americans, especially young people, come together on college campuses, lighting vigils, gathering around to mourn and pray.

Tens of thousands of Londoners gathered over the weekend to mourn Kirk, an extraordinary sight to see in a country now governed by the center-left Labor Party.

Every parent I know with teenagers, young adults and even middle schoolers is talking to their kids about the conservative activist because he touched them in some way.

I predict that Kirk's death will be a turning point for Gen Z, urging them to look to God and live a life of purpose and meaning, online and off. He posted on July 11, 2024, "Get married. Have children. Build a legacy. Pass down your values. Pursue the eternal. Seek true joy. Eventually, we will replace the nihilists."

When I look at what Robinson's accused of and the ideas lurking in the digital world, I'm worried about this young generation. But when I see how many have responded to Kirk's death, I have a glimmer of hope.

Nicole Russell is a columnist at USA TODAY and a mother of four who lives in Texas. Contact her at nrussell@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @russell_nm. Sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Right Track.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Charlie Kirk shooting exposed parents to a dark online world. But I have hope. | Opinion

Reporting by Nicole Russell, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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