The courtroom of public opinion is rarely merciful. And in the weeks following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, that court has found a new, polarizing figure: Amber Robinson, the mother of the accused shooter, Tyler Robinson.

On Facebook, through tearful posts and old photographs, Amber has tried to paint a picture of a son the public no longer believes exists — a promising young man who once carried a future as bright as any. But her pleas for understanding have now ignited a fresh storm, capped by conservative commentator Laura Ingraham’s blistering rebuke, branding Amber “shameless” in her attempt to salvage sympathy.

📸 The Facebook Posts

Earlier this week, Amber Robinson uploaded a series of photos of Tyler as a teenager. In one, he is holding up an ACT exam certificate, a proud grin across his face. His score had placed him in the top percentile nationwide. In another, he poses in his graduation cap, his high school transcript boasting a perfect 4.0 GPA.

But it was the video that drew the most attention — and controversy. In it, a younger Tyler sits at a kitchen table, nervously opening an envelope. His hands shake before his eyes widen, scanning the letter. And then he bursts into laughter and disbelief: he had been awarded a £23,600 (approx. $30,000) national scholarship to attend Utah State University.

“He was so happy that day,” Amber captioned the post. “He wanted to study engineering. He wanted to build, not destroy. He wasn’t supposed to end up here. Please, remember the son I knew — not just the man in those headlines.”

She added, in a comment that stirred both sympathy and outrage: “The dead are gone. We grieve for them, yes. But the living must go on. My son deserves a chance at life, even if he has lost his way.”

😢 A Mother’s Plea

Amber’s tone throughout has been one of despair — not denial. She has not excused the shooting, nor disputed that her son pulled the trigger. But she insists that Tyler’s story is not one of simple evil, but of a gifted boy swallowed by mental illness and manipulation.

Through tears in a livestream, she pleaded: “He was not always like this. He was my baby. He loved music, he loved learning, he wanted to travel the world. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He lost his path. I can’t bring back Charlie Kirk. None of us can. But do we throw my son’s life away completely? He could still become good. He could still change.”

Amber’s words hit like a knife — especially her most controversial claim: “The dead have died. It is the living who must go on. Punish him, yes, but don’t erase him.”

That phrase, repeated and reposted, quickly made her a lightning rod.

🔥 Laura Ingraham Responds

Within hours, Fox News host Laura Ingraham took aim. On her nightly broadcast, her tone was scathing:

“I have to say this — Amber Robinson’s Facebook posts are disgraceful. Shameless. A man is dead. A family is shattered. And she’s posting ACT scores, GPA numbers, and scholarship letters like we should feel sorry for the killer. What about feeling sorry for Charlie Kirk’s children? For his widow? What about the life they lost? Amber, your son didn’t misplace a homework assignment. He killed a man in cold blood. And you want us to think about his future? That’s shameless.”

Ingraham’s words sparked applause from her audience, but also rekindled the debate. Was Amber’s grief being misunderstood as deflection? Or was she, as critics claimed, trying to excuse the inexcusable?

⚖️ The Divide

On social media, the battle raged.

Some rallied to Amber’s side. “She’s a mother who just lost her son to his own actions. She’s grieving too. Stop crucifying her,” one commenter wrote. Another added, “Sharing who Tyler once was doesn’t erase what he did. It’s a reminder that monsters aren’t born — they’re made.”

But the backlash was fiercer. “Amber Robinson says the dead are gone and the living must go on. Tell that to Charlie Kirk’s kids who watched their father die. Shameless doesn’t even begin to cover it,” one viral post read.

Even legal experts weighed in. “Courts are not swayed by ACT scores or GPA,” one attorney explained. “But juries are human. If this becomes part of sentencing, his mother’s words may matter.”

🕯️ Two Families, Two Griefs

The tragedy now feels doubled. Charlie Kirk’s family grieves a husband, a father, a man stolen from them. Tyler’s family grieves a son whose bright future curdled into violence.

Amber Robinson sits at the intersection — hated by strangers, haunted by memories, torn between shame and love. Her words may never be forgiven by those who see them as callous. But to her, they are the only defense left for a boy she insists once had a future.

“He was more than this crime,” she whispered in her last livestream. “He was once my everything. And I can’t stop being his mother.”

For Laura Ingraham and millions who share her anger, that is the very problem: that a mother’s love can blind the world to the irreparable truth — that Charlie Kirk is gone forever.

And in that unbridgeable divide lies the cruel reality of tragedy: two families forever broken, two truths that cannot be reconciled, two wounds that will never fully heal.