Share and Follow
Amidst a substantial collection of evidence, the defense team for Tyler Robinson, accused of killing Charlie Kirk, has hinted at the possibility of summoning an ATF agent to testify. This move hinges on the agent’s potentially inconclusive ballistic findings, which could challenge the prosecution’s case.
“As it pertains to the firearm evidence, the defense has received an ATF summary report indicating that the agency could not conclusively link the bullet retrieved during the autopsy to the rifle associated with Mr. Robinson,” noted Robinson’s lawyers in a motion to either vacate or delay their client’s preliminary hearing. “Although the State has not expressed plans to present this report at the preliminary hearing, we might introduce the ATF firearm analyst’s testimony as exonerating evidence.”
This statement suggests that the defense is skeptical of the prosecution’s ability to establish that the bullet that killed Kirk came from the Mauser rifle found near the scene. Prosecutors claim this rifle had Robinson’s DNA and was allegedly provided to him by his father.
Nonetheless, experts caution that inconclusive results do not necessarily eliminate the possibility of a match. Additionally, investigators have amassed other evidence, including assertions that Robinson either confessed or hinted at his guilt to those close to him.
Tyler Robinson, charged with the murder of Charlie Kirk, appeared in a hearing at the 4th District Court in Provo on Tuesday, February 3, 2026. (Photo by Trent Nelson, Salt Lake Tribune via Pool)
“It’s not uncommon for a round that went through a human body, especially if it traveled through tissue, to say conclusively that it’s tied to a specific firearm, because by nature the projectile is supposed to transfer all of its kinetic energy, and it often disintegrates into fragments and whatnot,” said Bernard Zapor, a former ATF special agent in charge and faculty associate at Arizona State University. “The fact that it went through several bone structures, there was going to be very little left.”
As a result, it would be unfair to conclude that the bullet hadn’t been fired out of the rifle police recovered nearby, experts told Fox News Digital.
If the ATF had definitively ruled out Robinson’s rifle, that filing would say so in plain English, because that would be a bombshell. It doesn’t say that.
“Unable to identify is not the same as ruled out,” said retired FBI supervisor agent Jason Pack. “That’s a finding of inconclusiveness, not exoneration.”
Charlie Kirk was a conservative activist who led Turning Point USA. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
According to the Utah County Prosecutor’s Office, Robinson arrived at Utah Valley University around 11:51 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2025, the day of Kirk’s murder. They allege he walked in through a tunnel under Campus Drive and climbed a staircase to the rooftop of the Losee Center, which overlooks the courtyard where Kirk was speaking.
At 12:20 p.m., a single bullet struck Kirk in the neck. Prosecutors have said campus police found marks left behind on the gravel rooftop moments after the shooting “consistent with a sniper having lain [there] — impressions in the gravel potentially left by the elbows, knees and feet of a person in a prone shooting position.”
Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot in the neck and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Police later found the alleged murder weapon wrapped in a towel and hidden in a small patch of woods just off campus. Crime lab testing allegedly found DNA consistent with Robinson’s on the gun, on the towel and on three of the four rounds inside.
“To me that’s not problematic, but obviously the defense is gonna make big hay out of that, because they want to have the firearm removed from the case,” Zapor said. “If the shell casing has his DNA on it, [prosecutors] are solid.”
There are a number of reasons why the fired bullet may not have been a conclusive match, experts told Fox News Digital, and additional lab testing is pending.
Charlie Kirk (L) and his wife Erika Lane Frantzve (C) during the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball at the Salamander Hotel on Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
“Nobody outside the ATF lab knows why they couldn’t make the match yet because the defense still hasn’t received the underlying case file and protocols,” Pack told Fox News Digital. “Was the bullet too damaged? Was it a methodology question? That answer isn’t in the record right now.”
Other evidence in the case includes a text message conversation prosecutors allege Robinson had with his roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs, after the shooting.
Robinson allegedly discussed wanting to retrieve a rifle before returning home from Orem, which is about a four-hour drive from where he lived in Washington County. Twiggs is cooperating with investigators and has not been charged with a crime.
In another message, Robinson allegedly wrote he was “stuck in Orem for a little while longer yet. Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.”
New security measures have been added to the area where the alleged assassin shot and killed Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. (Stepheny Price/Fox News Digital)
“You weren’t the one who did it right????” the roommate texted back.
“I am, I’m sorry,” Robinson allegedly replied.
Robinson faces a top charge of aggravated murder, which carries the potential death penalty upon conviction. He is also accused of felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and committing a violent offense in the presence of a child.
While Robinson’s defense is seeking to put off his preliminary hearing for another six months, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has filed a notice with the court invoking her right to seek a speedy trial as a victim under Utah law.
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at an event as part of a national speaking tour and sponsored by the campus chapter of the organization, which promotes conservative principles among students across the country.
He was a married father of two.
<!–>
–>