Updated Charlie Kirk shooter conspiracy theories: Alleged text messages to roommate cause an uproar on social media

Charlie Kirk, the right-wing influencer, was brutally slain on Wednesday, Sep. 10, as he spoke at a rally at Utah Valley University. He was killed by a single shot to the neck, with the assassin apparently firing from a rooftop on campus.

Since his killing, social media has been ablaze with theories about what really happened, ranging from supposed “hand signals” in the crowd to speculation about private jets and planted ammunition.

Authorities later released surveillance footage showing the suspect — wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a long-sleeved black shirt — sprinting across the roof, climbing down the side of the building, and fleeing into a nearby neighborhood. The presumed gunman has been detained.

Charlie Kirk conspiracy theories abound on social media

In the aftermath of the killing, conspiracy theories quickly flooded social media. It is important to underline: these are only theories. The only reliable information is coming from investigators, and members of the public should follow official guidance on how to help.

Conspiracy theories often sound plausible at first glance. But one common truth about real-life cover-ups is that people talk. Any unlawful or secretive plot would require multiple participants, and experience shows information leaks sooner or later. That’s why many of these theories fall apart on closer inspection.

Conspiracy theory: Kirk’s shooting was government-sanctioned

Some X users claim the government itself carried out the attack in order to distract attention from the possible release of the #EpsteinFiles. This is a classic conspiracy template: the state as the hidden hand.

The theory stretches credulity. Kirk was a prominent MAGA figure, strongly associated with Donald Trump. And with today’s widely available firearms, the killing does not require professional-level resources or expertise, as explained by NBC.

The missing private jet

Britain’s Daily Mail reported that the FBI faced questions about why Provo Airport was not closed immediately after the shooting.

“Authorities failed to close off the airspace surrounding Provo Airport,” the paper wrote, citing “speculation” on social media that a private jet departed the airport shortly after the killing and returned about an hour later.

A retired FBI agent told Fox News it was theoretically possible the gunman escaped via the airport. But no evidence has been presented to support the claim. Since then, Daily Mail has not published further reporting on the matter.

Mysterious hand signals behind Charlie Kirk

One of the most widely shared clips shows men standing behind Kirk during the rally, with conspiracy theorists insisting their hand movements were coded signals.

This is familiar territory for conspiracy culture. People adjust their stance, check their phones, or gesture naturally in conversation. Online, those everyday motions get reframed as evidence of coordination or collusion.

Psychologists describe this as apophenia — the human tendency to perceive patterns where none exist. Once viewers are primed to believe they are seeing “signals,” they begin to interpret any movement as confirmation.

Law enforcement has reviewed video from the event, identified those present, and has made clear that these individuals are not considered suspects.

Ammo bore political messages — making the shooter a “plant”?

Another theory centers on the ammunition. The New York Post reported, citing “preliminary law enforcement reports,” that bullets recovered from the weapon may have been inscribed with pro-trans and anti-fascist messages. But The New York Times, quoting a senior law enforcement official, reported that those claims had not been confirmed by analysts.

The uncertainty didn’t stop conspiracy theorists. For some, the alleged inscriptions proved the shooting was a false-flag operation — orchestrated by government or right-wing actors but designed to blame progressives.

Others went further, claiming the markings themselves were proof of staging: the shooter was supposedly a “plant,” and the ammunition deliberately altered to implicate left-wing activists.

This illustrates a common pattern. A single unverified detail — in this case, whether the bullets carried any inscriptions at all — gets inflated into “evidence” of a vast cover-up. At this stage, authorities have not confirmed the existence of inscriptions. And even if such markings were found, jumping to the conclusion of a coordinated plot is pure speculation.

As with the hand-signal rumors, the ammo theory shows how messy, early reports can be twisted into narratives that reinforce pre-existing beliefs rather than reflect confirmed facts.

The newest conspiracy theory is that the text messages are supposedly fake

Internet armchair sleuths claim that nobody 22 years old writes text messages like that.

The messages contain terms used by the police such as “circle back,” “interrogated,” “squad car,” “swept that spot,” and “retrieve it.”

The language used has both the right and left up in arms claiming that someone else wrote the text messages. We’ll have to sit back and wait to see what comes of this new, highly refuted, information.

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