Investigators in the United States have found ammunition engraved with transgender and anti-fascist ideology inside a rifle that authorities believe was used in the shooting that killed American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the investigation and an internal law enforcement bulletin.
The newspaper said the rifle had three unfired bullets in the frame, with engraved inscriptions, Reuters reported.
Reuters previously reported that investigators said they had found the rifle they believed was used in the killing of Kirk while he was giving a speech at the University of Utah, but that they were still searching for the gunman.
Kirk, a 31-year-old commentator, podcaster and radio host who was a close ally of US President Donald Trump and credited with boosting support for the Republican Party among younger voters, was killed on Wednesday in a single gunshot in what Trump called a "heinous assassination."
The killing, captured in harrowing detail in videos that quickly spread online, occurred as Kirk was speaking at an open-air event called "Prove Me Wrong" in front of about 3.000 people at Utah Valley University in Orem, a city about 65 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The shooter arrived on campus minutes before the event began, and security cameras recorded him climbing stairs to a nearby rooftop, from where he shot Kirk, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state officials said. Kirk, a staunch gun rights advocate, was answering an audience question about mass shootings when a bullet struck him in the neck; the audience began screaming and running in panic.
The attacker jumped from the roof and fled into a nearby neighborhood, said Robert Boles, an FBI special agent. Investigators found a “high-powered repeater” in nearby woods and analyzed it along with handprints and footprints, Reuters reports.
The gunman appeared to be of college age and “well-suited” to the campus, Utah Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said. He has not yet been identified, and while investigators say they have “good video footage,” they have not released it.
Kirk, co-founder and president of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was pronounced dead at a local hospital hours later. His killing immediately drew condemnation of political violence from Democrats, Republicans and foreign governments.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Kirk's appearances at universities are part of a tradition of open political debate that is "the foundation of the creation of our country, our basic constitutional rights."
"When someone takes a person's life because of their ideas or ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened," Cox said.
Trump announced Thursday that Kirk would be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Vice President J.D. Vance canceled a trip to New York to commemorate the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks and will instead travel to Utah to visit Kirk's family, a person familiar with the situation said.
Kirk began his career in conservative and right-wing circles as a teenager. Just over a decade later, some of his friends from that period now hold top positions in the US government and media, and Vance recalled being in numerous group chats with Kirk.
"So much of this administration's success stems directly from Charlie's ability to organize and bring people together," Vance wrote in a lengthy tribute on social media. "He not only helped us win in 2024, but he helped us fill the entire cabinet."
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