Fact-checking claims about sniper’s identity in Charlie Kirk shooting

In the hours after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated, details about his attacker remained elusive, and social media users and live TV commentary filled the void with false information.

As of late afternoon on September 11, the day after the shooting at Utah Valley University, where Kirk had been speaking, authorities did not have the shooter in custody and had not released any suspect’s name.

No evidence the sniper might have been a Kirk supporter

About an hour after the shooting, before Kirk’s death was announced, political commentator Matthew Dowd suggested during an MSNBC broadcast that the sniper could have been a Kirk supporter.

“We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration or – so we have no idea about this,” Dowd said.

While the attacker remains at large, there is no evidence that the person was a Kirk supporter or someone celebrating.

State and federal authorities said a sniper fired a single shot from a high-powered bolt-action rifle that was later recovered in a wooded area outside the university campus. A university spokesperson said law enforcement believes the person fired from the roof of a building some distance from Kirk.

Dowd was fired hours later for his comments, which also included statements about Kirk using “hateful words” that led to “hateful actions”. MSNBC and Dowd both apologised for the rhetoric.

Orem Mayor Dave Young speaks at a candlelight vigil for Kirk at a memorial in Orem City Center Park, Orem, Utah [AFP]

George Zinn was taken into custody, but is not the attacker

Immediately after the shooting, videos of a bald man being dragged away by law enforcement officers circulated widely on X. People sharing the videos said the man’s name was George Zinn.

Zinn was initially taken into custody, authorities said, but he was released and charged with obstruction by police.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Zinn disrupted events in the past and has a criminal record dating to the 1980s. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told the newspaper that Zinn was often arrested “on suspicion of trespassing” and was “politically conservative, leaning libertarian”.

Michael Mallinson, a 77-year-old Canadian man, was not the shooter

An image of a different bald man also went viral.

An X post with more than 992,000 views said, “The assassination attempt on Charlie Kirk was allegedly carried out by Michael Mallinson, a member of the Utah Democratic Party, Fox News reported”.

That claim was unfounded.

Mallinson said he is a 77-year-old retired banker “who lived and was in Toronto”, The New York Times reported after interviewing him. The rumour may have originated from an X account impersonating a Fox broadcast affiliate, The Times reported.

The fact-checking website, Lead Stories, found that the image was posted in 2020 on X by an account with Mallinson’s name. That account was unavailable on September 11.

A meme has been recycled for almost a decade to push disinformation about the identity of mass shooting suspects in the US and abroad. The meme features a real-life comedian whose name and photos have repeatedly been used by internet hoaxers. Once again, after Kirk’s death, the meme circulated on social media.

“Charlie Kirk shooter and Palestinian sympathizer Sam Hyde identified as shooter,” said a September 10 X post showing an image of a man with a rifle.

Another X post on Wednesday shared a video of the same man with a gun and footage of him shooting outdoors. The caption said: “Video of Charlie Kirk shooter now surfaces after the incident and the shooter is identified as Samuel Hackmann. Watch as he warns about the devastation he will be causing.”

The video and images show Samuel Hyde, now 40, a comedian. One of the images of Hyde with a rifle is from a 2016 YouTube video that has been removed.

The video in the X post was originally posted on Facebook in 2020 with the caption, “self-defense situation”, and it is not related to the Kirk assassination.