The bullet that killed Charlie Kirk was so damaged that investigators could not confirm that it was fired from Tyler Robinson’s gun — but that also doesn’t mean it came from a different rifle, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Claims emerged this week that the “bullet jacket fragment” recovered from Kirk’s body didn’t match the .30-06 hunting rifle Robinson allegedly used in the September 2025 assassination — fanning online conspiracy theories about the conservative icon’s death.
But court documents reveal something different.
When the fragment was recovered during an autopsy and compared to the murder weapon found at the scene, “the result of the comparison was inconclusive,” according to court papers filed this month that reference findings from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The ATF report has not been made public yet, and has only been referenced in court papers, to date.
And the FBI is still in the process of conducting its own analysis of the ballistic evidence, Robinson’s team wrote in court papers from Friday.
Robinson’s lawyers want to postpone a May 18 hearing on the grounds they needed to wait for those results and other evidence from prosecutors.
And the defense suggested it might seek to use the murky findings as evidence against the charges he killed 31-year-old Kirk during an event Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.
Utah County Attorney’s Office spokesman Christopher Ballard said he can’t comment on forensic testing and results — but he said “when the results of a bullet fragment analysis come back as inconclusive, that means only that the fragment did not contain enough detail for the examiner to determine whether the characteristics on the fragment were consistent with having been fired by a particular firearm.”
“Regarding the firearm evidence, the defense has been provided with an ATF summary report which indicates that the ATF was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr. Robinson,” Robinson’s team wrote in the Friday filing.
“The defense may very well decide to offer the testimony of the ATF firearm analyst as exculpatory evidence,” Robinson’s team wrote. “In order to make this determination, it is necessary for the defense and its firearm expert to review the ATF case file and protocols relating to this examination, which have not yet been provided.”
Robinson, 22, is accused of killing Kirk — the co-founder of Turning Point USA — during an event at the Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He could face the death penalty if he’s convicted of aggravated murder.
He’s being held behind bars until his trial concludes.
Robinson is due back in court on April 17 where his lawyers are expected to argue why the press shouldn’t be allowed to record or take photos at Robinson’s hearings and trial.
