Press Conference: No "Transgender" Or "LGBTQ" Symbols Found At Kirk's Shooting
Yesterday, several media outlets claimed or strongly implied that "transgender symbols" were found at the scene of the gun used by Charlie Kirk's shooter. This turned out to be false.
In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s shooting, several mainstream outlets rushed out sensational claims that “transgender symbols” were engraved on bullet casings found near the suspect’s discarded weapon. Within hours, senior law enforcement contradicted the reports and the outlets hedged—but the damage was already done, with the falsehood ricocheting across the internet. This morning, officials announced the arrest of a suspect in Kirk’s killing and revealed at a press conference that the actual engravings had nothing to do with transgender or LGBTQ people at all—they were internet memes unrelated to transgender people.
In the hours after the shooting, far-right propagandist Steven Crowder fanned the flames by posting a screenshot of what he claimed was an ATF dashboard, alleging that “transgender and anti-fascist ideology” was engraved on the recovered casings. The Wall Street Journal then laundered the same claim into legitimacy, citing anonymous sources who said “transgender symbols” were found. The effect was immediate: conservative influencers flooded social media blaming the killing on transgender people, and even sitting members of Congress joined in. Rep. Nancy Mace—who has built much of her political brand on anti-trans hostility—declared, “it sounds like the shooter was a tranny.”
By this morning, even the Wall Street Journal began hedging, cautioning that “some sources urge caution,” while other outlets started walking back their initial certainty. Hours later, the official story collapsed. At a press conference announcing the arrest of the suspect—a white 22-year-old man named Tyler Robinson—officials revealed the actual engravings found on the casings. None were “transgender” or “LGBTQ” symbols. Governor Spencer Cox read them aloud, as seen in the following clip:
The bullet that killed Charlie Kirk was engraved with the phrase “notices bulges owo what’s this”—a furry and anime meme that has circulated online for a decade, generally meant as a joke about something unexpected. Three other unfired casings were recovered: “hey fascist! Catch! ↑ → ↓↓↓,” a reference to the Helldivers 2 video game code used to drop the 500kg bomb; “O bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao,” the Italian anti-fascist folk song; and “If you read this you are gay lmao,” a trolling insult common in meme subcultures. In other words: internet detritus. Not a single engraving had anything to do with “transgender symbols,” let alone the trans community.
Even after the press conference revealed the engravings, far-right accounts kept the lie alive. Libs of TikTok claimed the casings bore “antifa, LGBTQ, and leftist messaging.” Joel Berry of the Babylon Bee told followers there was a “transgender” meme on them. Oli London insisted they referenced “LGBTQI+ furries.” The facts were clear, but the falsehood was more useful: the narrative seeded by the first wave of bad reporting continues to circulate, weaponized by right-wing influencers eager to turn any act of violence into another attack on queer and trans people.
Prominent transgender rights advocates are now demanding that the Wall Street Journal issue a full retraction and apology for its false reporting. “Transgender people are owed a retraction and apology from @wsj.com. The lie has already become canon to millions and it seems the least they could do,” wrote Gillian Branstetter of the ACLU on Bluesky. Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law, echoed the call: “The Wall Street Journal needs to issue a full retraction and apology to the trans community for this. Nothing less will suffice. They put us all in danger and recklessly put out incorrect information.”
This is hardly the first time a mass shooting has been pinned on transgender people—and it will not be the last. When Trump was shot last year, far-right outlets spread the photo of an unrelated transgender woman, who this outlet was the first to interview and exonerate. After Uvalde, another trans woman’s pictures went viral, amplified by right-wing influencers and sitting members of Congress. In Texas, a megachurch shooter was also falsely identified as transgender. The pattern is clear: at every moment of national violence, trans people are scapegoated, with the lie traveling further than the truth ever can. Charlie Kirk himself repeated this narrative even in his final moments, claiming there had been “too many” transgender shooters. Yet once again, the facts reveal the opposite. Even in his death, the rush to blame transgender people was built on nothing but misinformation.
Of the 5729 mass shootings that have been committed since January 1st, 2013, only 5 have been committed by trans people. That is about 1/10th of 1%. 95.27% have been committed by cis-gender men. This is yet another attempt by conservative media to scapegoat trans people while deflecting attention away from the real issue, which is a proliferation of guns, and those guns ending up in the hands of radicalized men.
I understand the stamp on the casing is “TRN”, which is the ammo manufacturer.
Five years from now there will still be people still talking about how it was “gender-ideology” instead of a gunshot that caused a death.