The investigation into the senseless assassination of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk continues apace. However, the legacy media continue to obfuscate critical details in order to avoid an uncomfortable truth that has been relevant to other recent shootings.
Watch as national correspondent Mat Gutman describes the scrawlings found on ammunition belonging to shooter in the most opaquely anodyne manner:
.@ABCWorldNews also playing sleight-of-word with descriptions of the inscriptions on cartridges found during the investigation of the assassination of Charlie Kirk: "transgender and antifascism" get sanitized to "words and symbols". pic.twitter.com/ebeshOPZjP
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 12, 2025
MAT GUTMAN: And in the woods nearby, law enforcement said they made a discovery, a high powered rifle wrapped in a towel, and 3 unspent cartridges inscribed with words and symbols.
Words. And symbols. A reasonable individual may inquire as to what these vague words represent. What are these symbols symbols of? What do these words say, and what meaning do they intend to convey? Per The New York Post:
A rifle recovered in the hunt for conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassin contained ammo engraved with “transgender and anti-fascist ideology,” according to preliminary reports from law enforcement sources.
Ah. The “words and symbols” come into clearer focus. And it would seem that, once again and in the midst of an ongoing manhunt, legacy media would prefer to obscure details critical to exposing the identity of a criminal fugitive. It so turns out that these particular details have popped up relevant to other shootings, and have also been obscured by the media.
ABC is acting here as anti-news: saying just enough for viewers to feel informed, but not knowing what is actually going on. And to further advance that goal, they hide from their viewers the public picture of what might be yet another shooting perpetrated by what appears to be a transgender individual.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on ABC World News Tonight on Thursday. September 11th, 2025:
DAVID MUIR Good evening. And we begin tonight here with breaking news in the deadly shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The urgent hunt tonight, and the FBI releasing images of a person of interest. Seen on campus, authorities describing him as college age, wearing a dark baseball cap, sunglasses, and a dark long sleeve shirt with an American flag on the front. Authorities combing through campus security video, showing the moment Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed while taking questions during an event at Utah Valley University. Tonight, authorities say Kirk was killed by a single gunshot fired from a campus rooftop more than 100 yards away. And video tonight, right there, appearing to show a person on a roof immediately following the shooting. And we learned today that police have now found a high-powered rifle in the woods. What they also discovered on that rooftop, where that fatal shot was fired. They believe the suspect went to the other side of the roof, jumped off and ran on foot into a nearby neighborhood, and they now believe the suspect arrived on that campus at 11:52 in the morning, firing that single shot about 30 minutes later. President Trump speaking just moments ago. And ABC's Mat Gutman leading us off tonight from Utah.
MAT GUTMAN: Tonight, more than 24 hours after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by a single bullet before a crowd of thousands of college students, a massive manhunt underway for the shooter, still at large. The FBI releasing these images, asking the public for help. What looks to be a young man dressed in black and a shirt that appears to have a flag on it, wearing a ball cap and sunglasses. Authorities combing through video footage, stitching together his path from the moment he arrived on campus at 11:52 AM.
BEAU MASON: We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to a shooting location.
GUTMAN: They believe he watched from that perch for some 20 minutes as Kirk revved up the crowd.
CHARLIE KIRK: That's a lot of people, Utah, I'll tell you what.
GUTMAN: And at 12:23 P.M., as Kirk was answering a question about mass shootings that sniper, more than 100 yards away, fired that single shot.
QUESTIONER: You know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last ten years?
KIRK: I assume you're not counting gang violence.
GUTMAN: In an instant, panic. Students ducking for cover, and as they did, cameras catching a shadowy figure in black on a roof top.
MASON: We're able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood.
GUTMAN: Law enforcement piecing together the clues, a footprint on the roof and prints they believe are from the shooter's palm and forearm. Investigators searching backyards.
LOCAL RESIDENT: They're looking -- they're looking for someone.
GUTMAN: Going house to house. And right in front of us, you can see members of the FBI's evidence response team combing this neighborhood, looking for any clues. Yesterday, this neighborhood was crawling with SWAT teams, looking for the suspect, who they believe had walked through here. And in the woods nearby, law enforcement said they made a discovery, a high powered rifle wrapped in a towel, and 3 unspent cartridges inscribed with words and symbols. Tonight, authorities working on what the markings might mean. But tonight, the shooter still at large, and the campus a crime scene. Pictures now telling a tragically familiar story. An abandoned classroom. Laptops still open. A backpack left in a chair. And this, tables piled high, a makeshift attempt to barricade a door. And among the youngest witnesses, the horror of the shooting.
CHILD: It was traumatizing, like…
MAT GUTMAN: Traumatizing?
MIA GRANT: Like, the blood was everywhere, like I just keep on thinking about that.
GUTMAN: 12-year-old Mia Grant and 11-year-old Elle Steele said they stood less than 15 feet from Kirk when that shot rang out.
GRANT: Everybody was ducking. Wondering if there was going to be another shot fired.
ELLA STEELE: Yeah, so, we all -- I covered my head down, we all covered our heads and just dove down and we all said prayers in our minds.
GUTMAN: Do you remember what you prayed for, and how you prayed?
STEELE: To be safe and just for Charlie to have a miracle, maybe, or just -- just be safe and no more other shooters.
GUTMAN: Charlie Kirk, just 31 years old, leaves behind his wife Erika and two young children. Today, his close friend, Vice President JD Vance, flying to Utah to escort the family back home to Phoenix on Air Force 2. President Trump has declared the shooting a dark moment for America, and Kirk a martyr- today, announcing he will be awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor.
DONALD TRUMP: Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty, and an inspiration to millions and millions of people. I'm pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk, posthumously, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
MUIR: So let's bring in Mat Gutman live on the ground there in Utah tonight. And Mat, investigators have been able to map out the suspected gunman’s movements, at least some of them- jumping from that roof and then running. They're carefully going through campus surveillance cameras, trying to piece this together?
GUTMAN: And to help them track, David, his moves from the moment he arrived on campus, entered the building about 200 yards behind me, climbed the stairwell, took that perch on the roof top, and after taking his shot, scampering across the roof, somehow jumping off that roof and walking into a nearby neighborhood. And authorities say because he was a college-age man, he was able to blend in that crowd, fleeing the chaos. David.
MUIR: Mat Gutman here leading us off again tonight, Mat, thank you.