Charlie Kirk was discussing ‘trans shooters’ conspiracy moments before being shot

Right-wing activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was discussing the conservative conspiracy around trans shooters in the moments before he was fatally shot.

The 31-year-old – known for his gun rights advocacy and anti-LGBTQ+ views – was shot in the neck while giving a talk at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (10 September). He was believed to have been killed by a single bullet shot from the roof of a nearby academic building.

Charlie Kirk was holding his infamous ‘Prove Me Wrong’ debate, where students are invited to challenge his political opinions when a gun shot rang out.

Seconds prior to the shooting, Kirk was being asked about the number of trans people involved in mass shootings – a topic that has become a key conservative talking point since the recent Minneapolis shooting.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience member asked Kirk, in a video seen by PinkNews.

“Too many,” Charlie Kirk said in response.

The audience member followed it up with a second question: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.

A loud bang is suddenly heard and Kirk jolts back in his chair, blood pouring from his neck before collapsing.

Screams from the university students who had come to the open-air event can be heard, with the video footage showing people ducking and fleeing the scene in panic.

In recent months, the right-wing conspiracy theory that trans people – who make up around just 0.6 per cent of the US population – are more likely to commit violent acts like mass shootings has been gaining popularity with conservatives, despite the fact it has been frequently disproven.

Figures from The Violence Project’s database of mass shootings – which collates data from the more than 190 mass shootings carried out since 1966 – has shown cis men, not trans people, are the biggest perpetrators of mass shootings and make up 97 per cent of mass public shooters.

Further data taken from the Gun Violence Archive’s set of criteria – which states a mass shooting must involve a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed and not including the shooter, to be counted – found trans people “would be expected to have committed at least 16 mass shootings since 2018”. However, “instead there are just three possible cases cited by conservatives,”  Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler reported in March 2023.

The conspiracy theory has been supported by many notable right-wing figures including Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr and Riley Gaines, who has all pushed the misinformation to their millions of followers.

Charlie Kirk’s death comes just days after the Trump administration was said to be looking at taking away trans people’s right to own guns by labelling them ‘mentally ill’ following a mass shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota which took the lives of two children and injured many more.

On 27 August, at around 8.30am, 23-year-old Robin Westman – who authorities believe was trans – killed Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski, aged 8 and 10, after opening fire through the stained glass windows at the Annunciation Catholic School in the city as pupils attended a back to service.

Westman died at the scene from a self-inflicted shotgun wound.

Sources close to the administration, cited by CNN, said Department of Justice officials were having conversations about barring gun ownership for trans people “to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell”.

Limiting gun ownership for any American has long been a red line issue for conservatives, as the Second Amendment states the “right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.

Tributes have poured in for Charlie Kirk from many notable right-wing figures in the hours since his death.

US president Donald Trump, a close ally of Kirk, called him a “truly great American Patriot” and has ordered American flags to be flown at half-mast in his honour.

“No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “He was loved and admired by all, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”

Police have said the shooting was a “targeted attack” on Kirk, with Utah governor Spencer Cox describing it as a “a political assassination”.

The shooter responsible for Kirk’s death currently remains at-large.