The bullet used to kill conservative activist Charlie Kirk was engraved with transgender and anti-fascist ideology, according to a law bulletin.
The notice sent to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents said that bullets found inside the rifle, a .30-06 caliber hunting rifle, contained the messaging on them.
The 31-year-old MAGA figurehead was gunned down on Wednesday while speaking at a university event in Orem, Utah.
According to the notice, the weapon was wrapped up in a towel, with a spent cartridge in the chamber.
Another three unspent rounds were discovered in the magazine, all of which contained wording on them. The inscriptions were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
A Department of Justice source confirmed with the Daily Mail that the bulletin is authentic, while warning that the ‘recovered evidence from the site of the assassination is still being assessed and the investigation is ongoing’.
Kirk was speaking to students at the time and had mentioned transgender individuals being involved in mass shootings just seconds before he was assassinated.
The FBI revealed earlier this morning that they had recovered the firearm they believe was used in the killing of Kirk.
Robert Bohls, special agent in charge of the Bureau’s Salt Lake City field office, said agents recovered a ‘high-powered bolt action rifle’ from a wooded area.
According to Bohls, the assassin – who has since been described as a male of college age – fled to the wooded area after the shooting.
Beau Mason, Utah’s public safety chief, said that investigators have ‘good video footage’ of the suspect.
They said the gunman managed to blend in with students on the college campus, having just arrived shortly before noon.
After making the fatal shot, authorities say he jumped from the roof of the building, before fleeing the campus.
Bohls said that the weapon was sent to an FBI lab for further analysis, with officials also finding palm and footwear prints on the scene.
The agent added that the FBI has received more than 130 tips since Kirk was gunned down.
Just last month the bureau, under Director Kash Patel, forced the resignation of decorated counterterrorism agent Mehtab Syed who was leading the Salt Lake City field office, MSNBC reported.
Syed was forced out after being put in charge of the office in February for reasons unknown.
The bureau is already coming under some heat over their handling of the manhunt, with questions already arising over why a nearby airport wasn’t forced into lockdown.
A manhunt remains underway, with officials releasing an image of a person of interest wearing a cap, sunglasses and a long-sleeved t-shirt.
First responders initially described the gunman as being dressed all in black, with aviator-style sunglasses.
Kirk was fielding questions from the audience inside the Losee Center courtyard on the campus at the time.
‘Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last ten years?’ the person asked. Kirk responded, ‘Too many.’
The questioner followed up: ‘Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last ten years?’
‘Counting or not counting gang violence?’ Kirk asked. Then a shot rang out. Kirk immediately slumped over as the crowd descended into a frenzy.
About 3,000 people were in attendance, according to a statement from the Utah Department of Public Safety.
The university police department had six officers working the event, along with Kirk’s own security detail, authorities said.
An elderly man, since identified as 71-year-old George Zinn, was hauled away by cops in the immediate aftermath after allegedly claiming he had fired the fatal shot.
Authorities soon determined that he was not involved in the assassination, and later confirmed that another man they had taken into custody was not the shooter either.
