this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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An analysis from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) could not conclusively connect a bullet fragment recovered during Charlie Kirk’s autopsy to the rifle found near the scene of the rightwing political activist’s killing – and the FBI is running additional tests, lawyers for Kirk’s accused murderer said in recent court filings.

In the court filings, Tyler Robinson’s defense team also asked for a delay to a preliminary hearing scheduled in May, saying they need time to review the bullet analysis as well as an enormous amount of other material that could contribute to the suspect’s defense.

The ATF’s bullet analysis report has been kept private, but attorneys have cited snippets in other public filings that say the results were inconclusive.

The defense said in its motion that it may try to use the analysis to clear Robinson of blame during the preliminary hearing while prosecutors aim to show they have enough evidence against him to proceed with a trial.

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[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 200 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I have read somewhere that the whole "bullet forensics" process is mostly pseudoscience anyway. A quick search found this article:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-field-of-firearms-forensics-is-flawed/

If a shell casing wasn't ejected on the scene (like with a bolt-action not cycled) then all they would have to analyze is the what's-left-of-bullet which is possibly just a mess of lead and copper. May or may not have rifling marks left on it

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 116 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (19 children)

Yeah, shits not like on TV.

In fact, one of the big reason it's like that on TV, is just so when cops lie in real life, idiots believe them.

They consistently tell suspects "we know your gun fired the bullet" but they don't, at most for handguns they can say "a glock fired it" because they use weird octagon rifling.

Matching it to a specific firearm is impossible unless the barrel is real fucked up in a unique way.

A 30-06 will have such massive deformation, I'd be shocked if any rifling is identifiable.

That doesn't mean the person they claim is the shooter really is tho, all types of shit happened immediately after that only make sense if there was a cover up.

But anyone expecting a bullet to be "matched" to a rifle been watching too much CSI

[–] chocrates@piefed.world 43 points 6 days ago

Which really sucks because the juries are all full of tv forensics knowledge, so when cops lie or bend the truth I bet they eat it up

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 28 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, shits not like on TV.

[–] Kolonel_Kahlua@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Is that the scene the other fellow 'helps' by also typing on the same keyboard?! 🤣

[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I was so sad when I found out she was a fake Goth Girl.

Not as bad as when I met Elvira at a signing in the '00s and a middle aged blond woman wearing Mom Jeans and a sweater had taken her place.

Now I'm older and realize that Elvira is very busy and can't be everywhere at once, so that's why she hires helpers to fill in for her sometimes.

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[–] theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world 26 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (9 children)

Same with fingerprinting and blood spatter analysis. There is very little within the field of forensics that is backed by science. Fingerprints are not admissible evidence in many courts.

[–] gdog05@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (5 children)

"We're 100% certain the one responsible for destroying the eucalyptus bush is either you or this koala. Why don't you just admit it now and save yourself some trouble?"

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[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 16 points 6 days ago (4 children)

And even if it does, they'll be so mangled as to be useless. Like you could say "ok the rifle has four grooves at 1:8” but you've got a fraction of a bullet that was squished into an entirely different shape on impact.

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[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 52 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Charlie Kirk’s killing was an inside job. Where was Erika? Where was Trump? Where are the Epstein files?

[–] El_Scapacabra@lemmy.zip 32 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Erika and J.D. sitting in a tree S.N.I.P.I.N.G.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

that made me laugh out loud

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 49 points 6 days ago (4 children)

This is a nothing statement. It just means that they can't definitively prove what rifle fired the bullet. It's something that happens all the time, and there's plenty of other evidence for them to convinct. Plus that motherfucker is still worm food, so it doesn't really matter anyway.

[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (3 children)

It’s not a “this proves Tyler Robinson is innocent” but it casts substantial doubt on the prosecution’s claims. Once they start talking about shot angle and where Robinson supposedly was at the time of the shooting, having this part about the bullet already out of the way will likely clear him… and then we’re going to have proof that someone other than Robinson killed Kirk.

It doesn’t help the state too much that the sheriff responsible for this situation investigation just resigned.

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there's plenty of other evidence for them to convinct

Like confessing to the trans roommate? That was surely planted evidence.

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[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 50 points 6 days ago (7 children)

A disturbing number of people seem to be reading this as:

"The bullet does not match the gun." i.e. that there is 'proof' that the bullet didn't come from his gun

Instead of

"They can't say if it is or is not from the gun due to being a small fragment and not an entire bullet"

It probably doesn't help that there are a bunch of communities/subreddits who've editorialized the headlines to say 'bullet does not match gun' and the tendency of people to only read the headline.

[–] bilb@lemmy.ml 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Ballistics analysis is mostly fake science, like a lot of so called "forensic science."

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[–] 3abas@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Under the requirement to prove beyond reasonable doubt, "they can't say if it is or is not from the gun" is huge, having a gun becomes circumstantial, and requires additional evidence, and depending on the strength of additional evidence, a good lawyer maybe able to get him off the hook.

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[–] pleaseletmein@lemmy.zip 50 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 26 points 6 days ago (2 children)
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[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 69 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Bullet tracing is mostly a TV fiction. This headline is just the natural state of things.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 20 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Especially for 5.56/.223 where one of the major selling points is the cavitation it causes in soft tissue. "cavitation" being a polite term for "makes fucking explode".

Its why actual footage of mass shootings is so horrifying. Media (and video games that glorify it...) like to paint it as neat little holes when the reality is you have one neat little hole for the entrance wound and a giant fist sized one or larger for the exit.

And all of that does a number on the bullet itself.

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[–] harcesz@szmer.info 27 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] GameOverFlow@lemmy.zip 15 points 6 days ago

Can Kirk fuel meld Trumps beam?

[–] Fedegenerate@fedinsfw.app 56 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (32 children)

I thought Charlie's medical found lethal doses of fentanyl in his system.

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[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 46 points 6 days ago (7 children)

So when do we get the evidence that this kid wasn't involved, and is an AIPAC plant?

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 33 points 6 days ago (1 children)

In a foreign-made documentary that’ll drop in about 30 years.

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 41 points 6 days ago (10 children)

Every high profile murder that happens from now on will be conspiracy-theoried to death. Articles like this fuel it. I think it often makes sense to doubt the story we're told. But many Lemmy users for example, are not "doubting". They "know" what happened.

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If you’re going to report on bullet analysis, you need to also report on the evolution of the science. Which is to say, the way we understand bullet analysis from a show like CSI or something is incorrect. Bullets simply can’t be linked to firearms like fingerprints can be linked to people.

The way I understand the science is that bullet analysis tells us if a bullet is from a family of guns, not a specific gun like it was used in the past. Bullet analysis and be used to rule out a weapon, not to directly tie one to a crime. This article doesn’t tell us the gun was eliminated like it suggests.

[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago

Can't wait for the 2nd shooter theories. Didn't Kirk's head jerk back, and to the left?

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago

It was spontaneously created by the Almighty. You didn't need proof of the bullet's firing. You just need strong enough belief. If God came down and snatched the bullet from Trump's ear, he also placed this one.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

erika grifting kirk already forgiven tyler.

[–] DERRALEXANO@sh.itjust.works 13 points 6 days ago

Nah she forgave the killer (not TR)

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 33 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (7 children)

Must have been a second shooter on the grassy knoll.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 39 points 6 days ago (1 children)

No, his neck just does that.

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[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 22 points 6 days ago (1 children)

FYI, Kirk was against an attack on Iran, and dared to equivocate Palestinian lives with those of genocidal zionazis, in the sense that perhaps the genocide was a little too heavy. Reportedly, Bill Ackman (head of US mossad zionazi division) tried to donate/persuade him to be more in line with GOP doctrine on the chosen genocidal supremacists, but was rebuffed shortly before the murder.

Joe Kent, director of counter terrorism, who recently resigned from Government because Iran war is purely for Israel, said that he was denied access to "terrorism investigation" related information in Kirk's death.

[–] crapwittyname@feddit.uk 31 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Netenyahu has wanted the US to back Israel's war with Iran for at least 20 years. Trump is the first president sufficiently cognitively challenged to do it.
These people are opportunists, not 5D chess players.

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[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

Turns out face enlargement surgery has serious side effects.

[–] teyrnon@sh.itjust.works 25 points 6 days ago (12 children)

This story stinks, totally impossible story by the fbi on three counts at least. No shit they didn't release the ballistics results, because that rifle would've made a very different more dramatic wound than whatever hit kirk.

[–] AlDente@sh.itjust.works 18 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I found it interesting that after Joe Kent resigned from being Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, he went on the record to say that the FBI prevented them from investigating any foreign links to the Kirk assassination.

Edit: also, if anyone hasn't seen this comedy bit on the assassination, it's worth a watch.

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[–] BigMacHole@thelemmy.club 11 points 5 days ago

This is NOT Proof of anything at All!

-Pizzagate believers who call Michelle Obama a legitimate Man!

[–] BigTuffAl@lemmy.zip 14 points 6 days ago

Bullet analysis is circumstantial and pseudosciencey anyway so the fact they couldn't get that in their favor is kind of weird.

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Who cares? Fuck kirk and his wife wife. And JD vance that fucks her and her sofa.

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