Viral posts claim Charlie Kirk shooting was a hoax — we debunk them

Social media has been awash in false claims, misinformation and conspiracies following the death of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday.

Some posts have garnered tens of millions of views, many claiming the incident was a hoax or that it was staged. Conspiracy sites like Infowars have also picked up on some of the narratives. CBC’s visual investigation unit took a look at some of the most popular claims to separate fact from fiction using open, independently-verifiable sources of information.

Claim: Kirk was wearing a ‘squib’
Some online commentators have have pointed out an apparently suspicious aspect of the incident: a black mark on Kirk’s right upper chest and shoulder area, which appears to detach and disappear during the shooting. Users have raised doubts about the shooting as a whole or claimed that it was a pre-placed squib, or blood pack, a Hollywood method for faking a gunshot wound.

In countlesspreviousvideos of events similar to the one held at UVU, Kirk has worn what appears to be an identical magnetic microphone clip or similar device in the same area on his body. In short, the black “mark” on Kirk’s shirt is not an anomaly, but a regular feature of his public appearances.

Claim: A private jet possibly carrying shooter mysteriously went dark
This now-deleted post on X, which had received close to 19 million views, raised questions as to why a private jet, flying under the designation N888KG, left Utah’s Provo Airport shortly after the shooting. It also notes that the flight’s transponder signal was lost roughly 30 minutes later, stating it “illegally turns off ADS-B radar.” ADS-B radar refers to flight tracking technology that broadcasts plane positions, viewable via sites like ADS-B Exchange.

Other variations of this claim have gotten millions more views, with commenters calling it “suspect” and suggesting that the flight must mean the shooter was from a different country.

The data for this flight, which is publicly available on ADS-B Exchange, does show a loss of signal about 30 minutes into the flight but as flight tracking experts like Steffan Watkins pointed out in an X post, there is nothing suspicious about this loss of signal. It’s quite common for a plane to lose signal if there are mountains and valleys, he said, as is the case in Utah and Arizona. In this case, the plane was heading to the Page airport in Arizona, where Watkins notes there are very few radio receivers to collect data on the plane. Essentially, it’s a “reception dead zone” for the ADS-B data.

Airport data for Page shows a jet with the same registration landing at 1:48 p.m. MT.

Claim: Kirk’s ring points to a hoax
Manyposts have suggested the shooting was a hoax because a close examination of the video purports to show a number of strange occurrences. One post, viewed almost 20 million times on X, alleges that prior to being shot, Kirk was wearing a ring on his ring finger, but following the shot it had switched to his pinkie finger.

Some users seized on this as evidence that his death was faked with computer graphics and that everyone has been fooled. Some suggested it was the result of AI used to upscale the blurry images.

In fact, Kirk has worn a ring like that before. In images from a previous event, he can be seen wearing a ring that unclasps. He can be seen wearing a similar ring at the event on Wednesday.

Analysis of the moment before he is shot and immediately after shows that the ring appears to have become unclasped. It may have appeared to switch fingers because it was in free fall, or may be hanging on the other finger.

Claim: This video shows the shooter fleeing
Severalposts also circulated online — garnering millions of views — that purported to show the shooter fleeing from the area. The posts circulated early Thursday morning, long before the FBI released images of someone they describe as a person of interest in Kirk’s fatal shooting.

But this claim is easily disproven.

Instead of showing the area around the UVU campus, the videos show a scene from the aftermath of a shooting that took place over the summer in Reno, Nevada, at the Grand Sierra casino.

The sign for the hotel is visible in the video and the location can be confirmed on Google Street View.