WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Charlie Kirk previously debated his alleged shooter.
OUR VERDICT
False. The person in the video is not suspected shooter Tyler Robinson.
AAP FACTCHECK - The assassination of right-wing political activist and commentator Charlie Kirk has led to a range of false accusations and conspiracy theories from Australian and New Zealand social media users.
Mr Kirk, 31, co-founder of conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
The alleged shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested in the days after and remains in custody.
One Facebook post suggests Mr Kirk previously met Robinson at one of Turning Point USA's public debates, which were held regularly on university campuses.
"Charlie Kirk's suspected assassin has been captured," the caption reads.
"Turned in by his father and a minister. Unconfirmed but this is apparently him debating Charlie weeks ago."
The post includes a screenshot of a TikTok video featuring a man wearing a backpack on his front, holding a megaphone and speaking with Mr Kirk about college education.
A reverse image search reveals the video, which has been flipped, was originally posted on social media in early April 2025 and was recorded during a debate at Oklahoma State University.
A student named Stone Lambert heckled Mr Kirk with a megaphone, according to an article in student-run newspaper The O'Colly.
Mr Lambert addressed the misinformation in an Instagram post, condemning the attack on Mr Kirk and describing the accusations against himself as appalling and devastating.
In another case of mistaken identity, it's being claimed a member of Mr Kirk's personal security team also worked as a Secret Service agent for President Donald Trump and made "hand signals" before Mr Kirk's assassination.
A Facebook post includes two photos of a man in a black shirt standing behind Mr Kirk, taken from footage of him debating students in Utah before the shooting.
These images appear alongside a photo of Secret Service agents surrounding Mr Trump after he was shot at during a July 2024 campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
"He was the one who did the hand signals the second before Kirk was shot," the image's headline reads.
The images, however, feature two different men.
The agent wearing sunglasses next to Mr Trump is Sean Curran, who was promoted to director of the Secret Service in January 2025 after the assassination attempt.
The man standing behind Mr Kirk is Dan Flood, listed as "Head of Risk Strategy - Executive Protection and Cybersecurity" on the staff section of the Turning Point USA website.
Mr Flood appears in videos taken at previous events, and tattoos down his right arm match photos on his own social media.
Another Facebook post claims alleged shooter Tyler Robinson doesn't look like the suspect in images from the day of the shooting released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
But the claim is based on pictures shared on X that were edited using artificial intelligence (AI), which smoothed out his features and altered the shape of his nose and lips.
The images released by the FBI before Robinson's arrest were grainy and low quality, taken from security camera footage.
The AI tools also added a watch to his left wrist and distorted the American flag print on his shirt.
Elsewhere on social media, users suggested Mr Kirk was shot because he acted against the interests of Israel.
One Facebook post's misspelled caption reads: "Charlie had become a liability to the Zionist establishment. The bill was passed thriugh the House right after his assassination…"
It includes a screenshot of a May 2025 X post shared by Mr Kirk, in which he criticised bill HR 867, which sought to prohibit international governmental organisations from engaging in boycotts of certain countries.
"In America you are allowed to hold differing views," he wrote. "You are allowed to disagree and protest … This bill should not pass. Any Republican that votes for this bill will expose themselves …".
However, HR 867 was not passed following his death and had been removed from the House of Representatives voting schedule in May, according to an MSNBC report.
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