(NewsNation) — Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a college campus event in Utah last month, and while the investigation moves ahead and a suspect sits in jail, social media is still rampant with conspiracy theories about who is actually responsible for his murder.
The theories have continued to spread in spite of overwhelming evidence against the suspect that has been presented to the public.
NewsNation traveled to the venue where Kirk was speaking, standing before a crowd, before he was shot.
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Prosecutors allege that the shooter was on the roof of a building not far from where the event was happening.
Following Kirk’s murder, a plethora of conspiracy theories surfaced on social media and in a wide variety of forums questioning law enforcement’s preliminary evidence contained in the probable cause affidavit, as well as whether Kirk’s shooter acted alone.
Even though the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, was captured on Ring camera video walking to campus with a limp, conspiracy theories abound about whether Robinson was carrying the rifle he used to kill Kirk or whether it was placed on the roof before he arrived at the outdoor venue.
Questions have also surfaced as to whether it would really be possible to hide a rifle in that manner.
There are also videos from on campus and surveillance photos of Robinson on his way up to the roof. Some have speculated that it would have been impossible for Kirk to have climbed the stairs with a rifle in his pants and that it was likely that had he been carrying the rifle, he would have been spotted by the large crowd gathered to hear Kirk speak.
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Some have suggested he could have disassembled the gun and put it in his backpack.
NewsNation traveled to a nearby gun store to talk to an expert, Jim Cannon, about those questions.
Cannon demonstrated that it is possible to disguise a rifle and scope in a pants leg, demonstrating that it does cause a distinctive gait.
Cannon’s demonstration showed how difficult it would be to climb stairs with a rifle concealed that way because it makes it difficult to bend the leg. To go up stairs, he would have to take an unusual side step to avoid bending his knee.
He also demonstrated disassembling a similar rifle, which can be done using an Allen wrench available at any hardware store.
Even if the shooter had managed to take the gun apart quickly, it would have been quite difficult to fit the gun in a backpack without a large portion of it sticking out, Cannon said.
The Utah County sheriff, who has been at the forefront of the investigation, told NewsNation he is frustrated by the conspiracies.
“I’ve heard all sorts of things on that, you know, he has a gun, he doesn’t have a gun,” said Sheriff Mike Smith. “I think some of it, you’re going to believe what you want to believe.”
Smith pointed to the Ring camera footage.
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“When he’s walking up to that roof, there is definitely a way he is walking that you can see that that gun is being concealed,” Smith said.
He said the video from the stairs also shows a gun.
“But if you watch, if you watch that video, he is carrying, he is carrying a gun. And when he drops off that building, he does drop something. You see him pick it back up,” Smith said. “And I can tell you this. It was our evidence team that found that gun, that was a sheriff’s office team that had that crime scene and found that gun in that wooded area.”
Utah County’s undersheriff, Shaun Bufton, is also disturbed by the many conspiracy theories being floated online, telling NewsNation that if there was anything untoward going on with the Charlie Kirk investigation, he and the sheriff would be the first people to say so, adding, “And there is nothing hidden in this case. There is nothing crazy that is hidden deep.”
