Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

An ABC reporter apologized on Sept. 17 after describing text messages authorities say were exchanged between Charlie Kirk’s alleged murderer and the man’s boyfriend as “very touching.”

“Yesterday I tried to underscore the jarring contrast between this cold blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk - a man who dedicated his life to public dialogue - and the personal, disturbing texts read aloud by the Utah County Attorney at the press conference,” Matt Gutman wrote on X.

Watch the original clip here:

“I deeply regret that my words did not make that clear. [ZH: so it's our fault for misinterpreting him] But let there be zero doubt here: I unequivocally condemn this horrific crime and the pain it caused Charlie Kirk’s family, those who were forced to witness it at UVU [Utah Valley University], and the millions of people he inspired.”

A spokeswoman for ABC did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

After Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray on Tuesday outlined the evidence supporting the charges against Tyler Robinson, who is accused of murdering conservative commentator Kirk in Utah on Sept. 10, Gutman said during the ABC broadcast that the messages were “very touching, in a way, that I think many of us didn’t expect—a very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect’s roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who is transitioning, calling him ‘my love.’ And ‘I want to protect you, my love.’”

Robinson never told his boyfriend that he wanted to protect him, according to messages released by authorities.

“So it was this duality of someone who the attorney said not only jeopardized the life of Charlie Kirk and the crowd, but was doing it in front of children, which is one of the aggravating circumstances of this case,” Gutman continued. “And then, on the other hand, he was speaking so lovingly about his partner.”

Later in the day, Gutman said on ABC that Kirk was brutally murdered but that “on the other hand, there is this duality ... a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family.”

Gutman noted that Robinson’s mother, according to authorities, recognized her son from the photograph distributed showing the suspect in Kirk’s killing before Robinson was arrested.

“The mother essentially discovered it was her son who had done this—the kid who had got a 34 out of 36 on the ACT, who had a 4.0, who got a full ride to college here. That that kid was the one who allegedly perpetrated. She saw those pictures and identified him, essentially. And then those text messages,” Gutman said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a press conference in which we’ve read text messages that are, a) so fulsome, so robust, so apparently, allegedly self-incriminating, and yet, on the other hand, so touching, right, with the suspect reaching out to his roommate, who was allegedly his boyfriend.

“And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him. ... So there’s this, this heartbreaking duality that we’re seeing very tragically playing out here.”