More details emerge about 'messages engraved on bullets' used in Charlie Kirk killing

UPDATE 12/09/25 3.45PM - An FBI press conference has confirmed the messages on the bullet casings thought to have been used by the Charlie Kirk murder suspect. They are as follows:

• "Notices. Bulges. OWO. What's this?"
• "Hey fascist! Catch!"
• "O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao"
• "If you read this, you're gay. LMAO."

While the bullets were inscribed with anti-fascist messages, they did not include 'transgender ideology as previously reported.

ORIGINAL STORY - More details have emerged about the claims that bullets from the gun used to shoot and kill Charlie Kirk had 'messages engraved' on them.

The American conservative speaker was shot dead on Tuesday (10 September) while attending an event at Utah Valley University, and the FBI later announced they had recovered what they thought was the murder weapon.

Investigators believe they have the events of the killing worked out, with the shooter likely positioned atop the roof of the university's Losee Center and firing a shot from a high powered rifle before fleeing the scene.

A Mauser .30-06 bolt action rifle was found wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near the university, with one spent cartridge in the chamber and three more rounds in the weapon.

The Wall Street Journal reported that sources told them the bullets were engraved with 'messages of transgender and antifascist ideology', and said these claims had come from an 'early bulletin circulated widely among law enforcement officials'.

However, they added that some officials had voiced caution over people 'reaching conclusions based on the internal report'.

Charlie Kirk was shot dead at Utah Valley University (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

The New York Times has provided more details about this information, though in this case more details may mean less certainty, as they said this was a 'preliminary and unverified report' that had been internally circulated around staff at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The NYT added that they spoke to a 'senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation', who said there should be caution over these claims as the report had not been verified.

A law enforcement official told them that these claims 'did not match other summaries of the evidence and might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted'.

At this point, the lack of information creates a vacuum and filling it speculation about the killer's motives would achieve little beyond fuelling the various narratives people are attempting to build around Charlie Kirk's death.

Several people have falsely identified the shooter as various individuals, including a 77-year-old Toronto man who was almost 2,000 miles away at the time Kirk was killed.

Waiting for verified information may be difficult but it is necessary and in an investigation like this concrete information is scarce, with information that the investigators may know but choose not to reveal at this present moment.

The most official and verifiable updates on what the investigation into Kirk's death has found will come directly from the FBI themselves, and avoiding conclusions unless and until they announce a sure motive for the shooting is prudent.

One of their latest updates to the public is CCTV footage which shows the suspected shooter jumping down off the roof of one of the university campus buildings and running away.

There are times when new information or seeming developments in investigations turn out not to be a sure thing, as two people were arrested at the scene of Kirk's shooting, but both were later released after they were deemed to have 'no current ties' to the incident.

The BBC reports that police sources had previously said they had identified the name of a 'person of interest' in the shooting, having previously released images showing a 'person of interest' in their investigation, before saying 'that lead has not panned out'.

At present so much of the case is unknown, with Utah's Department of Public Safety saying they had 'no idea' whether or not the suspected shooter was still in Utah.

The manhunt for the shooter continues.