Trans shooters disinformation surges after Charlie Kirk's death. Some fear retribution. Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAYSeptember 20, 2025 at 8:01 AM 1.4k Gruesome videos of Charlie Kirk being shot in the neck circulated rapidly on the internet.
- - Trans shooters disinformation surges after Charlie Kirk's death. Some fear retribution.
Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAYSeptember 20, 2025 at 8:01 AM
1.4k
Gruesome videos of Charlie Kirk being shot in the neck circulated rapidly on the internet. In the days before they arrested suspect Tyler Robinson, so did false accusations that the shooter was transgender.
This pattern has repeatedly played out in major shootings over the last few years. Before authorities even release information about the suspect, politicians and commentators put forward conspiracy theories that the attacker was trans, which are almost always debunked.
Kirk was a prominent conservative activist and a close ally of President Donald Trump. In the 33-hour search for his suspected killer, a later-corrected report said the ammunition had messages related to the transgender community engraved into it, but the messages were instead reported to be anti-fascist and reference online meme culture. Close inspection of the video revealed that the last question Kirk answered at a public gathering was about transgender shooters. It's possible that could have fueled the flames of these falsities.
Misinformation about previous shootings resurfaced, too, in recent weeks, with lists circulating on social media saying the suspect in the Uvalde school shooting, for example, was trans when he was not.
The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted the trans community. The conspiracies that suggest there is a rising number of transgender shooters are not only incorrect, but they have some fearing the falsities could cause more harm for a community whose rights are being stripped away.
"We have to get them off the streets, and we have to get them off the internet, and we can't let them communicate with each other," Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, said of transgender people in a Newsmax interview on Sept. 16. "I'm all about free speech, but this is a virus, this is a cancer that's spreading across this country."
More: No, there is not an 'epidemic' of shootings by trans people
1 / 7Charlie Kirk murder suspect appears in court, prosecutors seek death penaltyA screen shows Tyler Robinson (bottom left), the suspect in the killing of political activist Charlie Kirk, as he attends a court appearance remotely from his jail cell in Provo, Utah, on Sept. 16, 2025. Robinson has been formally charged with the murder of Kirk, and the prosecution added a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. Six other charges include obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot dead last week during a speaking event on a Utah university campus.Last question Charlie Kirk answered on extremely low rate of transgender shooters
Charlie Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University while he was speaking at a "Prove me Wrong" table event, in which he debates attendees. Videos of Kirk being shot capture the last words he spoke to the crowd as he engaged in one of these debates.
"Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?" the attendee identified by the Salt Lake Tribune as 29-year-old UVU student Hunter Kozak asked.
"Too many," Kirk said.
Kozak said the number was five and proceeded to ask how many mass shooters there have been in total in that timeframe.
"Counting or not counting gang violence?" Kirk says, before the shot was fired. USA TODAY estimates the gunman was nearly 150 yards away, more than the length of a football field.
Kozak said he just wanted to "have a conversation with Charlie about the inaccuracies I thought he was promoting," the Tribune reported.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 5,221 mass shootings since 2015. That means the five trans shooters GVA has recorded have accounted for 0.1% of mass shootings in the last 10 years.
Kirk's death would not count in this figure, however, as GVA counts mass shootings as four or more people killed or injured. In all deaths, including political or domestic violence since 2018, 22 of the perpetrators were known to be transgender, about 0.005% of the approximate 450,000 shootings, GVA executive director Mark Bryant told USA TODAY in a statement.
One percent of people in the U.S. over the age of 13 identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
More than 139,000 people died in shootings since 2018, according to GVA data, which does not account for individual suicides. Suicides make up the majority of gun deaths in the U.S.
Misinformation about trans shooters explodes, rewriting Uvalde, Philadelphia incidents
Most mass shootings or violent gun deaths in the U.S. are carried out by cisgender men, according to Reuters. Cisgender refers to someone whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth.
In the hours or days it takes for authorities to release information about the suspect in the shooting, the internet often runs wild with theories about the shooter being trans. Bryant said he started noticing it with blogger comments after a 2023 school shooting in Nashville killed three students and three staff members and has carried on since.
At the end of August, two children died in a Minneapolis Catholic school shooting. The person who fired into a back-to-school Mass had identified as transgender, according to court documents. But other evidence also suggests Robin Westman, the suspect who died at the scene, was involved in an internet subculture known as "nihilistic violent extremism", in which participants discuss mass shootings.
Lists going around social media in the wake of the Minneapolis and Kirk shootings incorrectly make a correlation between mass shooters and transgender Americans, often using false information about the shooters' identities.
One graphic widely shared shows a vague list of nine shootings that social media users pointed to as evidence of the "growing link," but only five of them appear to reference shootings where the alleged shooters were not cisgender.
Among the shootings on the graphic falsely attributed to trans shooters were the 2022 Uvalde Robb Elementary School shooting, where 19 students and two teachers died, and "Philadelphia," which could be referring to the 2023 rampage that left five dead. Police said the suspect did not identify as trans as an elected official suggested, NBC News reported.
"Time and time again, rather than point to the actual cause of high profile crimes – guns and easy access to guns – too many extremists voices pounce on the opportunity to falsely smear vulnerable communities," LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD said in a statement to USA TODAY. "The more the conversation shifts toward the orientation or gender of the suspect and those tangential to the suspect, the less the conversation is about guns, an epidemic killing 47,000 Americans, including thousands of children, every year."
Disinformation 'drumbeat for getting the country's bloodlust up for trans people'
The trans community has increasingly become a target of conservative rhetoric in the last several years. Trump's second administration has prioritized rolling back protections for transgender people, including trying to bar trans women from playing sports, banning transgender troops from the military and limiting the ability to have government IDs that match their identity.
A 2021 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law shows transgender people are more than four times more likely to experience violent victimization than cisgender people.
Imara Jones, CEO of TransLash Media, has long reported on the Christian Nationalist roots of the anti-trans movement that predates this Trump presidency. She told USA TODAY in an interview that the right has repeatedly tried to use disinformation about mass shootings to villainize the trans community.
In the wake of Kirk's shooting, she said the disinformation alleging the shooter was trans was a "drumbeat to get the country's bloodlust up for trans people."
Pushing a false link between the transgender community and mass shooters contributes to the "otherization" of the trans community and could legitimize the efforts to roll back their legal rights, Jones warned.
"I haven't heard anyone who is trans who feels that what happened is in any way justifiable," Jones said of Kirk's death. "What I have heard is a tremendous amount of fear."
Tyler Robinson charged with murder. Charlie Kirk's funeral scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 21
Authorities have said Robinson is not cooperating with authorities since he turned himself in on Sept. 11. Charging documents allege Robinson targeted Kirk because of "Robinson's belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk's political expression."
Robinson told his roommate in a text, according to authorities, "I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out." Robinson's mother told police her son was in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate, though the roommate's identity has not been publicly confirmed. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also said in a CNN interview that Robinson's roommate, whom he identified as transgender, was cooperating with authorities.
The amount of information that's been shared with the public at this stage is unusual and could complicate jury selection, experts previously told USA TODAY.
Robinson was charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said he would pursue the death penalty in the case.
Kirk's funeral is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 21. Trump is scheduled to attend.
Contributing: Will Carless, Chris Kenning, Nick Penzenstadler, Christopher Cann, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Charlie Kirk shooting death and false trans blame stirs fears
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