Law enforcement officials have since indicated that while they have not yet found right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s assassin, they have found the weapon used in the crime and ammunition reportedly engraved with transgender and antifascist ideology.
The news comes a day after the father of two started his American Comeback Tour and had set up court at the Utah Valley University.
Highlights
- Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during his American Comeback Tour event at Utah Valley University on September 9.
- Investigators recovered a high-powered rifle engraved with transgender and antifascist messages, along with shoe, palm, and arm imprints.
- Surveillance and viral clips show a figure on a rooftop where the fatal shot is believed to have come from.
Police initially collared a man who allegedly claimed responsibility for Kirk’s demise, but let him go again.
They have since indicated that they are looking for someone who fits the profile of a college student.
Law enforcement authorities have since recovered shoe, palm, and arm imprints
Image credits: Sam Hodde/Getty Images
The Wall Street Journal, citing information from a law enforcement insider and a bulletin, claimed that the ammunition “was engraved with messages of transgender and antifascist ideology,” via The Independent.
The weapon, reportedly a high-powered bolt-action rifle, was recovered wrapped in a “wooded area nearby.”
Divulged information has since also referred to a suspect appearing “to be of college age,” and thus they blended in with those attending Kirk’s event.
Authorities further noted that they had recovered a shoe, palm, and arm imprints.
A video is making its rounds on social media depicting a silhouette on a roof
Image credits: YaYaMagaQueen
The suspect favored by the investigation was alleged to have arrived on campus around 11:52 a.m., whereafter they traversed the establishment’s stairwells until they reached the roof.
As a nod to this theory, a video is making its rounds on social media, depicting a human-like form sticking out on the corner of a building’s roof, presumably in the direction the shot came from.
Beau Mason, heading up Utah’s Department of Safety, leaned into the congruency when he addressed the press shortly after.
Authorities confirmed that the shot came from a roof
Image credits: MonitorX99800
“Political influencer Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at the Utah Valley University,” he told the press and then confirmed to a member of the media, saying: “The shot came from here on campus from [...] a roof.”
“The possible shooter is taken from close circuit TV here on campus,” Mason continued. “We're analyzing it, but it is security camera footage, so you can kind of guess what the quality of that is.”
The FBI has since posted an image of a male, asking for information to help identify him
Image credits: strictsignal
Mirroring this statement, a video by the Economic Times points to a silhouette across the courtyard, rising on the roof and then “darting” out of sight.
The FBI has since released an image of a wiry-looking male dressed in blue jeans, dark shades, and a backpack climbing a stairwell.
“We are asking for the public's help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University,” the caption read.
The engravings mirror the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson's assassination
Image credits: Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
The revelations about the engravings mirror the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a winter morning in December 2024.
The shooter used a 3D-printed silenced pistol. Footage of the incident showed a hooded Luigi Mangione firing on the insurance exec.
The nearby cameras captured Mangione's gun jamming, and in what seemed to be a practiced movement, he cleared the chamber to complete his ominous task.
Image credits: FBISaltLakeCity
The casings found at the crime scene contained the engraved words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose,” which were associated with “Delay, Deny, Defend.”
The latter is a phrase well known in the American medical insurance industry and speaks to a tactic that ultimately sees patients and clients not receiving their claims and thus being deprived of required medical care.
Social media is skeptical about the evidence
Image credits: FBISaltLakeCity
Social media has since weighed in and masses feel the engraved evidence was all too convenient.
“The shooter is gone, but left engraved ammunition and the gun behind? Sounds off to me. Too convenient,” wrote one person summing up the sentiment.
“A professional hit as this was a military man, and too clever to leave any evidence,” echoed another.
A different, rather overwhelming school of thought, saw it as a distraction from another controversial topic.
“This is extremely sketchy, almost sounds like a deflection from the recession we’re going into, the Epstein scandal and sparking the civil war,” they wrote.
The internet thinks it "smells fishy"
