Charlie Kirk Assassin’s Ammo Engraved With Anti-Fascist Markings: WSJ
(Tyler Tate/AP photo)
Editor’s note: The Wall Street Journal has since amended its story on the revelations to include that some sources “urge caution” on the reporting. During a press conference Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox clarified what was written on the bullet casings left in the bolt-action rifle left by the shooter in the death of Charlie Kirk. While one did reference a “fascist,” the word transgender or anything having to do with transgender issues was not mentioned.
Ammunition cartridges recovered along with the bolt-action rifle used in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk were scrawled with transgender and anti-fascist messages, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The rifle was recovered Wednesday night in a wooded area where the FBI believes the killer fled after the shooting.
It was wrapped in a towel and had three unused ammo cartridges still in the chamber. Each was “engraved with expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology,” the Journal reported, citing an internal law-enforcement bulletin and a person familiar with the investigation.
The New York Times, however, warned that the information cited by the WSJ “did not match other summaries of the evidence, and might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted.”
The Times added: “In fast-moving investigations, such status reports are not made public because they often contain a mixture of accurate and inaccurate information.”
The disturbing discovery came hours after Kirk, the Turning Point USA founder, was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
Grisly video from the scene shows Kirk taking a single shot to the neck and slumping in his chair.
Authorities are now engaged in a relentless manhunt to find the assassin, who believed to be of “college-age.”
“We will relentlessly pursue this case, and the shooter, until we find him,” FBI Salt Lake City Special Agent-In-Charge Robert Bohls said during a press conference Thursday.
Investigators are also taking a close clips of the killer that they have obtained since the shooting.
“We do have good video footage of this individual,” Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said.
