The trade school student suspected of assassinating right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university was due in court on Tuesday to face formal charges, appearing by video feed from jail for his first public appearance since the shooting.

Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of firing the single rifle shot from a rooftop sniper's nest that pierced Kirk's neck last Wednesday on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, about 65 kilometres south of Salt Lake City.

The killing sparked denunciations of political violence across the ideological spectrum but also unleashed a wave of partisan blame-casting and concerns that Kirk's murder might beget more bloodshed.

Authorities have offered no possible motive for the killing, though Kirk's wife and other supporters were quick to ca

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