Charlie Kirk’s assassination, one year later: How conspiracy theories have evolved

It’s been one year since Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder, was shot and killed at Utah Valley University.

Misinformation swelled almost immediately after the 31-year-old’s assassination on Sept. 10, 2025, evolving from chaotic breaking news rumors into complex, unfounded narratives — many pushed by people who share Kirk’s political beliefs.

Social media users and media personalities initially spread false claims about the shooting being staged and the shooter’s identity. As a preliminary hearing for the accused shooter  started this summer, more elaborate conspiracy theories gained traction. 

On Sept. 1, a Utah judge found that prosecutors presented enough evidence to try 23-year-old Tyler James Robinson for murder. The judge allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty; Robinson pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Some claimed Kirk’s killing was an inside job orchestrated by TPUSA employees and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk. Others said Israel was behind the shooting because Kirk was starting to question the country’s relationship with the U.S.

Despite the murkiness of these conspiracy theories, one thing is clear: None are backed by credible evidence.

It’s not surprising a lot of misinformation surrounds Kirk’s assassination, said Joseph Uscinski, a University of Miami political science professor who studies conspiracy theories. 

That’s in part because “it was a big event that received national coverage and attention,” Uscinski said. “But also because the audiences of Kirk and other similar podcasters are themselves very conspiracy-minded.”

Here’s a recap of the misinformation that spread immediately after the shooting and the unsubstantiated narratives that have since unfolded.

Initial misinformation echoed falsehoods shared after other shootings

In the hours after Kirk’s shooting, details about the suspect were elusive, and social media users and live TV commentary filled the void with false information. Two people were taken into custody that day, but both were released, fueling confusion and misidentification. 

As officials searched for the shooter, some people wrongly said it was a Kirk supporter who accidentally shot him. Social media users also shared a photo of a person whose image often circulates online after shootings. As in those previous incidents, the person had nothing to do with the Kirk shooting, either. 

Online theories questioned whether the shooting was staged because a book about it appeared on Amazon with a Sept. 9 publication date — the day before it happened. But that date was a technical error.

The book was created with artificial intelligence and published after the shooting late in the afternoon on Sept. 10, Amazon told PolitiFact in 2025. The AI-generated book drew from information that was already available, such as news reports and public statements from law enforcement.

AI continued to feature in false information. It helped create over 20 videos claiming to show famous artists — including Justin Bieber, Celine Dion and Taylor Swift — performing tribute songs for Kirk. None were real. 

The exploding microphone theory and other speculation

Conservative media personalities have publicly sparred over conspiracy theories surrounding Kirk’s death, marking a new divide within the movement, said Whitney Phillips, a University of Oregon associate professor of information politics and media ethics.

“There is no longer a singular thread unifying right wing messengers, and the multidirectional, often dizzying, quality of Charlie Kirk assassination theories encapsulates that trend,” she said.

One prominent conspiracy theory falsely says Kirk wasn’t killed by a bullet but from an exploding microphone he was secretly wearing. Another says the bullet didn’t match the gun found at the scene, suggesting a cover up and that Robinson wasn’t the shooter. Then there’s the claim that Kirk was killed by a foreign government, such as Israel.

Here’s why none of these hold up.

The exploding microphone: Utah’s medical examiner’s office certified that Kirk died of a gunshot wound to the neck, and that the death was a homicide. Medical examiners recovered a bullet fragment from Kirk’s body and found no evidence of explosive residue or shrapnel that would come from a detonated device.

Law enforcement also recovered a Mauser .30-06 bolt-action rifle, a spent casing on a nearby rooftop and bullet fragments at the crime scene. A responding campus police officer testified that he heard gunfire as Kirk was shot, and found a sniper pad on a rooftop.

The bullet and the gun: In March, court filings in Utah’s case against Robinson inspired claims that bullet analysis doesn’t match the rifle recovered at the scene. 

A ballistics report from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, said tests could not conclusively match a bullet fragment to the suspected murder weapon but did confirm a match with the spent bullet casing.

Forensic science and criminology experts previously told PolitiFact an “inconclusive” finding on a bullet fragment is not uncommon and does not rule out that the weapon used in Kirk’s killing was the same one linked to Robinson. It typically means there weren’t enough marks on the fragment, or the fragment was too deformed to make a conclusion, experts said.

Unnamed law enforcement sources told Fox News that the ATF wasn’t able to provide a conclusive analysis because the bullet hit bone and broke on impact. Robinson’s DNA was also found on the trigger, casing and the towel the rifle was wrapped in.

Israel involvement: This conspiracy theory says Israeli intelligence or state actors ordered a “hit” on Kirk as he was privately shifting away from his pro-Israel stance over growing skepticism of U.S. aid to the country and pro-Israel donors. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied the claims in an official video statement, calling the allegations a “false and outrageous” lie. U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Utah state prosecutors, have said extensive forensic evidence show Robinson acted alone, without any foreign links. 

Inside job: One of the most prominent conspiracy theories championed by conservative podcaster Candace Owens, who worked for TPUSA from 2017 to 2019, asserts that Kirk was betrayed by people within his organization. There’s no evidence to support this. 

Owens has said Kirk’s influence threatened other factions within the conservative movement and that lax security during the event was intentional. She questioned whether Erika Kirk and TPUSA executives were “complicit” or withholding details about Kirk’s killing.

Erika Kirk and TPUSA have repeatedly denied the assertions and publicly available law enforcement information — including surveillance footage, ballistics tracing, written confessions and matching DNA — don’t point to an internal operation.