The Utah decide overseeing the case towards Charlie Kirk’s accused murderer Tyler Robinson has unsealed a ballistics report from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that would not conclusively match a bullet fragment to the suspected homicide weapon however confirmed a match with the spent casing.
Prosecutors have alleged that separate testing discovered DNA in line with Robinson’s on the gun, on the towel and on three of the 4 rounds inside.
The report’s conclusions had already been made public in prior court docket proceedings, however the doc itself is now accessible from the court docket, and it consists of some new particulars.
The examined materials features a “deformed/broken” piece of the bullet jacket in addition to 4 lead fragments.
It was connected, partially, as an exhibit alongside a protection movement filed underneath seal on Jan. 9, asking the decide to dam the federal government from additional testing till a protection skilled had an opportunity to look at and {photograph} the proof.
Choose Tony Graf dominated that there was no foundation to maintain the submitting categorised, discovering that it didn’t include any “personal or inflammatory info.”
An appendix to the ATF report defined that “inconclusive” findings imply that was “an examiner’s opinion that there’s an inadequate high quality and/or amount of particular person traits to determine or exclude.”
Two regulation enforcement sources aware of the investigation instructed Fox Information final month that the explanation the ATF was unable to match the bullet to the rifle is as a result of when the bullet impacted Kirk’s physique it hit bone and broke on affect.
Consultants mentioned this isn’t unusual.
“It isn’t a win for the protection,” mentioned retired FBI supervisory agent Jason Pack. “It’s merely a spot the prosecution is now working to handle by bringing within the FBI with extra superior know-how.”
Ballistics are not often the one piece of proof in a murder case, he added. And the inconclusive discovering solely utilized to the fragment, not the casing or the rifle discovered close to the scene.
“The protection right here is doing precisely what good protection legal professionals are presupposed to do, defending their consumer’s capability to problem proof earlier than it will get additional altered,” Pack instructed Fox Information Digital. “That’s not an indication the prosecution’s case is weak.”
The ATF additionally examined a .30-06 cartridge case that investigators wrote “was recognized as having been fired within the Exhibit 1 rifle.” That’s the suspected homicide weapon, Robinson’s Mauser. The agent recognized broken fragments as .30-caliber class, which isn’t inconsistent with Robinson’s rifle, though it wasn’t sufficient for a conclusive match.
“We’re a great distance from trial, and the general public ought to pump the brakes earlier than drawing massive conclusions from a single pre-trial movement a couple of single bullet fragment,” Pack added.
Robinson is accused of capturing Kirk throughout a Turning Level USA occasion at Utah Valley College in September 2025. He allegedly climbed to a rooftop throughout the courtyard from the place Kirk was talking and fired a single shot from his grandfather’s Mauser rifle.
Grotesque video exhibits the bullet struck Kirk within the neck in entrance of a crowd of roughly 3,000 individuals. He died from the damage.
Prosecutors have mentioned campus police discovered marks left behind on the gravel rooftop moments after the capturing “in line with a sniper having lain [there] — impressions within the gravel doubtlessly left by the elbows, knees and ft of an individual in a inclined capturing place.”
Police recovered the rifle wrapped in a blanket in a patch of woods close to campus. And prosecutors have mentioned that textual content messages between Robinson and his romantic accomplice, Lance Twiggs, allegedly focus on eager to retrieve the rifle.
“Caught in Orem for a short time longer but,” Robinson allegedly wrote within the hours after the homicide. “Shouldn’t be lengthy till I can come residence, however I gotta seize my rifle nonetheless.”
Twiggs is cooperating with investigators and has not been charged with against the law.
Robinson is due in court docket Friday for a listening to on his movement to exclude information cameras from future proceedings.
He may face the dying penalty if convicted of the highest cost towards him, aggravated homicide.
