CNN on Thursday appeared to downplay anti-fascist and transgender messaging on ammunition reportedly discovered in a wooded area near Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Authorities found ammunition from a rifle used in the Utah Valley University (UVU) assassination with messaging described as pro-transgender and anti-fascist, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources. However, CNN reported that “Sources say a range of phrases related to cultural issues were found scrawled on a rifle and ammunition, but it’s not yet clear if they point to a motive.”
“CNN’s reporting reflected the information we had at the time,” a CNN spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As we are able to confirm additional details, we will update our reporting accordingly.”
Authorities are still searching for the perpetrator after two subjects were arrested and released. Police initially arrested George Zinn and then Zachariah Qureshi after Kirk was shot in the neck during a TPUSA event, but both had “no current ties” to the murder, the FBI and Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) said in a joint statement Wednesday night.
The alleged gunman killed Kirk in a “targeted attack” and is suspected of having assassinated him from the roof of a nearby building, the agencies said. He is described as a male of college age.
A single gunshot rang out while Kirk was speaking to students for an event at UVU. Videos posted online showed Kirk interacting with a large audience under a tent as he debated a student about mass shooters and transgender ideology before the gunshot.
Kirk founded TPUSA, a 501(c)(3) group, in 2012, intending to mobilize students to support conservative values on campus and beyond.
President Donald Trump wrote in his Truth Social statement announcing Kirk’s death on Wednesday that nobody “understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”
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