Bullet used to kill Charlie Kirk did NOT match rifle allegedly used by suspect Tyler Robinson, new court filing claims

[usonian]

Last edited Mon Mar 30, 2026, 11:26 PM - Edit history (1)

From The Daily Mail but likely to be true.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15692625/Tyler-Robinson-bullet-rifle-match-Charlie-Kirk.html

The bullet that killed conservative commentator Charlie Kirk did not match the rifle used by suspected killer Tyler Robinson, a bombshell new court filing states.

snip

... His defense attorneys now argue that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 'was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr Robinson.'

The defense team may now offer the ATF firearm analyst's testimony as exculpatory evidence, they said in a motion filed on Friday to push the preliminary hearing back at least six months, Fox News reports.

It also notes that DNA reports filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ATF will take time for the defense team to analyze because reports indicated that several different DNA were found on some items of evidence.

Checking satellites for evidence of a grassy knoll.

No link at the Daily Mail to more, but others may. MSN syndicated the story.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/bullet-used-to-kill-charlie-kirk-did-not-match-rifle-allegedly-used-by-suspect-tyler-robinson/ar-AA1ZLsle

Edit to add. I did not intend to promote conspiracy theories, only to say REPUBLICANS IN DISARRAY.
Let them tear each other apart (verbally, of course.)

I looked for independent sources. So far, everyone is just copying the DailyMail, so Caveat Reader.
A search for corroboration!! Unfortunately, it has only been found so far at.
• Hindustan Times
• EndTimeHeadlines
• https://the.democraticunderground.org/100221135837 (so DU has another name? )
• FreeRepubic FREEPERS (this is interesting) Little did I know, they are HQ in Fresno. Yuck.,

I put the discussion so far up on pastebin, so you don't have to go there.
https://pastebin.com/raw/ZUKWyWmc
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! EACH OTHER!

[rzemanfl]

1. I thought this was fishy from the start. n/t

[EdmondDantes_]

2. Defense lawyer claims client is innocent

I'll wait for independent evidence or for the trial before assuming that this is 100% true.

[Ocelot II]

3. Is there a grassy knoll around somewhere?

[dweller]

4. Patsy

shocked shocked she said

😐


✌🏻

[Lovie777]

5. This was a professional hit......................

will we ever learn the truth.

[blue-wave]

29. Yup, it certainly was

No doubt about it. Who is really behind it?

[BootinUp]

6. This is your brain on conspiracy theories. nt

[stopdiggin]

11. Thank you !

Lord love a duck !
Are our brains really that far up our butts .. ?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[BootinUp]

13. People still don't believe the Warren commission even after the shooting

recreations and computer simulations and all the other evidence against Oswald (and lack of any evidence to the contrary). But I have no patience to argue with "believers" anymore, bring the facts or leave me be.

[stopdiggin]

18. there is no end to the lunacy that the 'conspiracy brain' will gobble up .... - - - - -(nt)-

[everyonematters]

27. Numerous people in the operating at the hospital saw that the back of Kennedy's head was blown off.

That means he was shot from the front.

[Trueblue Texan]

43. you could see after he was shot Jackie trying to climb out the back of the convertible, as if chasing his head.

He had to have been shot from the front.

[underpants]

21. Oh Lawd, there's a budding cottage industry of conspiracy theories on the RW alone.

He took the shot. He had a good rifle to do it and he had a lot of experience with guns.

The angle does seem odd to me.

The DNA thing could mean that anyone from him to his grandfather to his roommate touched then. There was open discussion in card games about killing somebody?

He was definitely a Groyper - devotee of Nick Fuentes - and those were warring factions.

[Jack Valentino]

41. I WISH somebody ELSE had had a 'good rifle'----

Elmer Fudd! I hate Bugs Bunny!



(ok, I'm lying about the part about hating Bugs Bunny)

[yaesu]

7. Like the tRump fake assasination attempt that went wrong I have no doubt. nt

[stopdiggin]

8. a very neat trick - given that the shooter TOLD other people that did it

with his own family turning him in for the deed.

[Blue_Roses]

9. Why did they pin the murder

on this suspect? Did someone see him do it? Did he confess?

[stopdiggin]

16. He - a) confessed to roommate - b) stashed a rifle easily identified as belonging to him/family in nearby bushes

while fleeing the building used - c) was turned in by his own family members (after confessing to them ?)
Shall we go on .. ?

[Blue_Roses]

20. Weird

nt

[RockRaven]

10. Oh boy...

All of a sudden these prosecutors will be a lot less interested in or respectful of the scientism offered by forensic experts' testimony than they were a few months ago.

Funny how that works.

[Prairie Gates]

12. When ATF or some other forensic lab can't definitely match a bullet, they say so

The defense will always say that that means it wasn't a bullet from the gun, while the prosecution will say that the bullet was simply too damaged.

Not being able to match a bullet to a gun is not the same as ruling out the gun as the source of the bullet.

[Straw Man]

15. Exactly right.

Not being able to match a bullet to a gun is not the same as ruling out the gun as the source of the bullet.

That's it in a nutshell.

[dgauss]

17. I did notice that the defense didn't say that the ATF

"ruled out" the possibility that the bullet came from that gun. That would be a little more convincing.

[rpannier]

30. I haven't followed the story much

My understanding is the round may have struck something Kirk was wearing and it ricocchet up. If that was true, whatever it hit would have been powerful enough to absorb the impact and force the round up. So whatever it struck would have damaged the round.
For me, Charlie Kirk is gone. That's where the story begins and ends

[Aussie105]

35. And so gentle readers, another conspiracy is born . . .

Facts and logic have no defense against those who thrive on conspiracy theories.

[OAITW r.2.0]

14. Nope. Not a rabbit hole I'm going doen. Not for this guy.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. Hard to tell whether the defense is saying the bullet doesn't match the caliber of the rifle, or if it's pushing what

more courts are recognizing, which is that firearms forensics is increasingly seen as inaccurate and unreliable.

[Prairie Gates]

23. One of the many "marks matching" forensic "sciences" that is of dubious reliability

We got sold a bill of goods on this stuff from the 1960s to the 2000s.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

25. Yep. Bite ID, blood spatter, fingerprints...whatever it takes to keep the PIC running.

[RockRaven]

26. Fire/burn/accelerant marks. Polygraphs.

There is so, so much bunk which has been used to wrongfully convict people.

[Johnny2X2X]

33. Carpet and fabric fibers

Notoriously bad evidence.

[Prairie Gates]

52. "Tool marks" and other nonsense pseudoscience

Truly, we've created a whole industry of Kid Detective forensics that sends people to prison. It's incredible.

[Renew Deal]

22. It's a defense claim

But it would be notable if it was impossible for the bullet to work with the gun.

Multiple DNA is probably law enforcement contamination.

The conspiracy people including Candace Owens will go wild with this info

[PeaceWave]

24. Now watch them say that Charlie Kirk's bullet matches Luigi Mangione's gun...

and that the entire FBI evidence locker is fucked up from Kash Patel using it as a bachelor pad.

[NickB79]

28. My guess is that the bullet hit something hard after passing thru Kirk's neck

A concrete wall, for example.

And then the bullet mushroomed and/or fragmented, making positive ID impossible.

[IronLionZion]

31. The only evidence we should care about are vague engravings on bullets

[33taw]

32. Trump wanted this to be federal case. Wonder why?

[Joinfortmill]

34. Wow. More questions than answers.

[Aussie105]

36. What questions?

Someone fired a gun.
A bullet hit its intended target.
Target died.

Simple!

[Joinfortmill]

50. Amazing deduction.

[sarisataka]

37. How do we know he is dead?

It could have been done with a squib, the gun loaded with blanks and they planted a bullet to make it look like he was shot
The shooter was paid to confess and promised the case would get tossed.
Kirk is in hiding somewhere

If we are going with crazy theories, let's go all-in

[Danascot]

49. Crazy theories? Let's go!

It was Erika Kirk.

If you were married to Charlie Kirk what would you do?

[MrChuck]

38. COLOR. ME. SHOCKED.

This entire fiasco from Butler PA to Charlie Kirk's murder has been completely fabricated.

[Kaleva]

39. Probably means bullet was too damaged to be able to match it to the rifle

Unable to match the bullet to the gun does not mean recovered bullet was not fired from the rifle in question.

[Ilikepurple]

44. A nice, sensible response to this new evidence.

I’m glad someone responded to this seemingly non-exculpatory evidence without the need to browbeat OP for considering possibilities. I like most others have no firsthand knowledge of this case and am not exactly trusting of either our FBI or DOJ, but still think it’s unlikely he’s the shooter. I’m not fond of conspiracy theories but without them conspiracies would never be discovered. I’m surprised at the number of people who think everyone should share the same epistemic standards, especially when they don’t fully understand their own.

[Unrepentant Fenian]

40. Good!

[C Moon]

42. Shocking.

[onenote]

45. is there a link to the court filing?

[usonian]

46. I've been looking, and everything points back to the DailyMail.

But I am no good at searching court filings unless they show up in general search.

I put a caveat into the OP.

It looks like a lot of outlets, not just the usual right wing sites, have picked it up.

That doesn't instill much trust. Who is checking?

[Quiet Em]

48. Below is a link to CBS news

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charlie-kirks-tyler-robinson-lawyers-question-bullet-rifle-link/

[Johnny2X2X]

51. Lawyer being a lawyer

He's just bringing into question ballistics evidence. Bullet too damaged to say what gun it came from. Mostly meaningless when you have a shooter who confessed. Now if the caliber was different, we'd have a big story.

I still think that's a really hard shot for anyone to make. Not hitting a target at 200 yards, but hitting a person at 200 yards, two totally different things.