A television monitor shows an image of Tyler Robinson, the suspect of killing Charlie Kirk on September 11, in OREM, Utah, on September 12, 2025.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty images
As the search was developed for the murderer of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, with the suspect identified Friday as Tyler Robinson, the police analyzed all possible leaders. An evidence in which they had accompanied: a forearm impression taken from the sniper position.
Before Robinson’s apprehension on Friday morning as a result of very human methods, it has been reported that Robinson offered what could have been a form of confession to family members, who later shared the information, which led to their surrender, although the situation is fluid and offered more details about the investigation during the weekend of the weekend Robert Bohls, said that the researchers gathered a “impression of cops La Palma and the scene of the sources of La Palma and the sources of La Palma de la Palma and the Forburic of the crime scene. “
The forearm footprints are not commonly collected evidence, according to experts with the experts with which CNBC spoke.
“It’s very unusual,” said Patrick McClain, a criminal defense lawyer based in Texas and military judge retired from Marines. McClain explained that typically, when an impression of the forearm is mentioned, the authorities have collected DNA or other surface skin residues against which the forearm was pressed.
“It is simply a mold of an impression that remains to remain in a prone shooting position with forearms on the deck for a period of time,” said Jeff Wenninger, founder and CEO of consultants of application of the law, which has worked with the elite metropolitan division of LAPD and with the secret service in protecting dignitary. “It would be similar to a shoe or boot impression that raise a mold,” he added.
Wenninger says that an impression of the forearm can be used to corroborate identification purposes, such as unique characteristics such as scars or the imprint of known well -known clothes.
“Like digital footprints, an impression of the forearm can be unique enough for identification if it is of sufficient quality,” he said.
It could also have forensic value if biological material such as sweat, body oils or tactile DNA can be recovered, and together with another evidence, it can corroborate or contradict statements of witnesses or video images.
The new technology is giving the forearm a wider window to a possible suspect. Physical impressions have been used in forensic research for years, Wenninger said, but in recent years, methodologies to identify and compare specific significant marks have evolved, and scanning technology to analyze impressions has improved so much that “it seems new.”
3D Scanning has revolutionized this science, turning the impression of the forearm into a previously exploited information deposit. An imprint alone cannot determine factors such as ethnic origin and gender, and researchers would still depend on whether DNA or other biological evidence has been obtained from impression.
“It is a newer exploration in Forensic, including other skin impressions. But it is not like a finger/palm footprint that is 100% unique,” said Toby Braun, CEO and founder of American Special Investigative Group, which specializes in executive protection, monitoring of complex threats and research.
According to Braun, an impression of the forearm will not identify a person with a database as a fingerprint would. “An impression of the forearm is not considered a primary form of forensic evidence in the same way that it is a fingerprint,” he said.
The officials responsible for enforcing the law, including members of a FBI forensic team, investigate near the crime scene where political activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at Utah Valley University in OREM, UTAH, on September 11, 2025.
Melissa Majchrzak | AFP | Getty images
An impression of the forearm is not a main form of evidence because there may be ambiguity, according to Braun. For example, although friction ridges in the fingers and palms are exclusive to each individual, the skin on the forearm does not have the same detailed, permanent and individualized crest patterns.
The difficulty with the residue of the forearm is that even in the cases more of high profile, any DNA would take to obtain results and that if the person is not in a known database, it will not be beneficial until there is an arrest. “There will not be too many people on the roof of the building,” McClain said. “But it’s not like a fingerprint; there is no unique structure for everyone’s forearm.”
According to McClain, cases with impressions of the forearm have been tested if there is something unique, such as a tattoo or a pattern of scars, “but I have never done one of those cases; they are definitely unusual,” he said.
As in any human hunt, in the hours after the shooting, the approach was to find the shooter and make an arrest. “Subsequently, additional evidence will be developed for the strongest possible case, since the investigation is still ongoing,” said Braun, and added that the authorities only need probable cause for an arrest, and the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt is for a trial. “But that develops as the case progresses,” he added.
Dan Gerl, founder and managing lawyer of Next Law, says that for the “pattern” of a forearm to be raised or photographed as evidence, the subject would have had to apply sufficient pressure on a receptive surface area and that the impressions are more useful as evidence of support instead of primary school, as to support a request for a search order that seeks additional evidence.
“Under certain circumstances, the forearm impressions can also be admissible in court. Like all scientific evidence, the forearm impressions would have to be admitted to the testimony of a qualified expert and approve the evidence of the Court of Reliability,” said Gerl. This type of forensic evidence would probably find more procedural obstacles to clear before being admitted to the trial, he added.
Robinson was arrested under suspicion of aggravated murder, discharge of a firearm and obstruction of justice by the police. Prosecutors will finally decide the positions facing the court, which are expected to appear on Tuesday.
In the end, Tyler Robinson’s arrest was reduced to human connections instead of Forens, and some criminal experts say that a defining characteristic of recent political violence is the underlying desire of a murderer of being trapped instead of planning and evading the capture.
Bryanna Fox, former special agent of the FBI and professor of Criminology at the University of Southern Florida, says that progress in crime technology has been notable in the last two decades, and some criminals may not be aware of the forensic level available for the application of the law. “He may have thought: ‘Oh, I can leave the impressions of my forearm and it will not be equivalent to anything,” said Fox.
But she thinks that another mentality may have been working. Comparing Robinson’s case with the case of Luigi Mangione, who murdered a United Medical Care Executive last year, Fox believes that ideologically conducted criminals can import more the sending of a message than to escape the consequences for their crimes.
That means that they may not be thinking about the trail of evidence that they leave behind as much as other criminals, whether they are impressions, covering their face or how they get rid of a weapon. “Attention helps to give more oxygen to what an ideologist means,” Fox said. “In a way, they are stipulating the fact that they will be trapped and agreed to leave some evidence. They do not want them to catch them immediately, but their main mission is to achieve the goal, which is to kill their goal,” he added.
