The Wall Street Journal later added an editor’s note to its story, reading in part that the ATF bulletin “may not accurately reflect the messages on the ammunition, and the article was updated Thursday to reflect that.”
In September 2025, days after the conservative commentator Charlie Kirk died after he was shot during a speaking event at a Utah university, a claim (archived) circulated that investigators found bullet cartridges — including one from the bullet used to kill Kirk — engraved with expressions of “transgender and anti-fascist ideology.”
One Facebook page that claimed it received the information through a source at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), one of the agencies investigating the Sept. 10 shooting, wrote (our highlight):
On Sept. 12, two days after the shooting, investigators and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said during a news conference that authorities had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson on suspicion of carrying out the shooting that killed Kirk.
Cox also said investigators found one fired and three unfired bullet casings inscribed with various messages. Investigators found those bullet casings alongside a Mauser 98 in a .30-06-caliber, bolt-action hunting rifle in an area they knew the shooter had passed through, according to Cox. Two of the inscribed bullet casings carried messages that could be interpreted as anti-fascist and one accused the reader of being gay.
At the time of this writing, the ATF had not returned a request to confirm whether the reported bulletin describing the inscriptions as “transgender and anti-fascist ideology” had in fact circulated within the bureau.
Authorities had also not released images of the bullet casings in question, so Snopes could not independently confirm whether the bullets carried the claimed TRN engraving. We’ll update this story if further credible information about the inscriptions emerges.
The Utah Department of Public Safety said in a Sept. 11, 2025, news release that it could not provide further details on “inscriptions” featured in reports about the weapon and ammunition used to kill Kirk.
Then, on Sept. 12, Cox confirmed investigators found inscriptions on four bullet casings. Investigators found the casings alongside a Mauser 98 30.06 bolt-action hunting rifle that matched the description of a weapon that Robinson had messaged about with his roommate.
According to Cox, the single fired bullet casing read, “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?” Three unfired bullet casings read, “Hey fascist! Catch!” with an up arrow, a right arrow and three down arrows, “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao” and “If you read this you are gay LMAO.”
The message on the fired bullet casing was a meme parodying online communities such as furries. A furry is someone who identifies with animals that have human traits and, in some cases, enjoys dressing up like them.
The “Oh bella ciao” bullet casing could be interpreted as a reference to “Bella Ciao,” a song dedicated to the Italian resistance that fought against Nazi German troops during World War II. That song contains the chorus line “O bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao, ciao, ciao.” Authorities did not confirm during the Sept. 12 news conference whether the “Hey fascist! Catch!” and the “bella ciao” bullet casings were both meant to be interpreted as anti-fascist messages.
Cox said during the Sept. 12 news conference that the “Hey fascist! Catch!” message “speaks for itself.”
Investigators did not describe the suspected shooter’s political beliefs during the Sept. 12 news conference. According to Cox, Robinson’s family members said he had become “more political” in recent years and had expressed a dislike toward Kirk at a dinner before the Sept. 10 shooting.
The claim originated from a Sept. 10 Wall Street Journal report based on a bulletin about the shooting that reportedly circulated among law enforcement officials.
According to that bulletin, investigators reportedly “found ammunition engraved with expressions of “transgender and anti-fascist ideology'” inside the weapon they suspected a shooter used to kill Kirk.
However, on Sept. 11, The New York Times cast doubt on the authenticity of the reported bulletin. According to that paper’s anonymous source, The Wall Street Journal’s bulletin “did not match other summaries of the evidence and might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted.”
Snopes does not rely on anonymous sources and has not independently verified the reported ATF bulletin. At the time of this writing, ATF had not confirmed the existence of the reported bulletin.
The Trans Journalists Association warned that “transgender ideology” was “a term coined for and used in anti-trans political messaging to falsely equate identity with politics, which is a way to frame transgender identity as a political choice rather than an innate identity.”
The Wall Street Journal later added an editor’s note to its article. The note read:
Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray reportedly planned to file charges against Robinson on Sept. 16. Kirk, who was 31, was survived by his wife and two children.
Snopes continues to fact-check claims related to Kirk, including whether he said prominent Black women didn’t have “brain processing power” to be taken seriously.
Staff writer Megan Loe contributed to this report.
AP News. “LIVE: Man Arrested in Connection with Charlie Kirk Shooting.” YouTube, 12 Sep. 2025, https://www.youtube.com/live/CiS5wXfXiKs?t=58s.
Gurman, Sadie, and James Fanelli. “Early Bulletin Said Ammunition in Kirk Shooting Engraved With Transgender, Antifascist Ideology; Some Sources Urge Caution.” Wall Street Journal, 10 Sep. 2025, https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/charlie-kirk-shot/card/ammunition-in-kirk-shooting-engraved-with-transgender-antifascist-ideology-sources-pdymd1sXXMSlVRhpvR4b?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASWzDAiQPV-3Aqoe6_SO09hqUJkfvsGfjTVB5U7s84fTpiaEjgEGuHBoXKERbS5ZDac&gaa_ts=68c2e578&gaa_sig=_NL7RtXSKWZQcI2I073XN9ib6SzPMe0no7R7bBYJ8cNjnWZK3uOHx77qCJqF6HIXl_0XewFe6jKish_WbTkO2Q.
“Live Updates: Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Tyler Robinson Is in Custody; Family Turned Him in, Utah Governor Says.” NBC News, 12 Sep. 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/charlie-kirk-shooter-manhunt-live-updates-rcna230762.
Media Advisory – UVU Shooting Updated Press Release 9/11/25 PM | Department of Public Safety. https://dps.utah.gov/press-releases/media-advisory-uvu-shooting-updated-press-release-9-11-25-pm/. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
“Notices Bulge / OwO What’s This?” Know Your Meme, 7 Aug. 2016, https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/notices-bulge-owo-whats-this.
Thrush, Glenn, and Devlin Barrett. “Investigators Eye a Hunting Rifle for Clues to the Gunman’s Identity and Motive.” New York Times, 11 Sep. 2025, https://archive.ph/WfmEe#selection-6195.0-6200.0:~:text=AseniorlawenforcementofficialwithdirectknowledgeoftheinvestigationcautionedthatthereporthadnotbeenverifiedbyA.T.F.analystsdidnotmatchothersummariesoftheevidenceandmightturnouttohavebeenmisreadormisinterpreted.
“TJA Urges Caution in Reporting on Details of Charlie Kirk Shooting Investigation.” Trans Journalists Association, 11 Sep. 2025, https://www.transjournalists.org/tja-urges-caution-in-reporting-on-details-of-charlie-kirk-shooting-investigation/.
