The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has released its report on the rifle used in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, along with the cartridge casings and the remains of the fatal bullet. The results are somewhat mixed, with the rifle a confirmed match with the spent casing, but inconclusive as to the bullet.
The Utah judge overseeing the case against Charlie Kirk's accused assassin Tyler Robinson has unsealed a ballistics report from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that could not conclusively match a bullet fragment to the suspected murder weapon but confirmed a match with the spent casing.
Prosecutors have alleged that separate testing found DNA consistent with Robinson's on the gun, on the towel and on three of the four rounds inside.
The report's conclusions had already been made public in prior court proceedings, but the document itself is now available from the court, and it includes some new details.
There are a couple of interesting things in the ATF report, which are described in the motion to prohibit any further testing of the bullet, from the Defendant's (Tyler Robinson's) defense team, linked in the Fox News piece. First, the examination of the recovered bullet fragment was determined to be "consistent with" a .30-caliber bullet, which matches the .30-06 custom Mauser that Tyler Robinson allegedly used to assassinate Charlie Kirk. There were some complications in the examination due to the condition of the recovered fragments. The motion cites the ATF report and states:
According to the Notice, the FBI examiner who will conduct the testing has informed the State that to obtain a useful scan of the bullet jacket fragment, it may be necessary to fold back portions of the jacket fragment to allow the optical head to capture the surface of the jacket that contacted the firearm. Pliers or similar gripping tools may be used to fold back the jacket. While this process could leave marks on the surfaces of the fragment, the examiner will document those marks and, if possible, ensure that the marks do not interfere with the areas to be examined with VCM. Although this process may alter the shape of the jacket fragment, the examiner believes that the item should remain intact. The item is, nevertheless, fragile.
That's not the only evidence. There are reports that DNA, possibly matching Robinson, was also recovered from empty cartridge cases found at the scene and from the rifle.
Read More: Denied: Judge Refuses to Disqualify Prosecutors From Accused Charlie Kirk Assassin's Upcoming Trial
The defense may well choose to focus some attention on the condition of the bullet, but that probably won't help much. For one thing, the rifle allegedly used to shoot the fatal round is chambered in the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, which is orders of magnitude more powerful than the 5.56mm round typically used in the AR-15 pattern rifles and carbines. This is a powerful big-game cartridge that can launch a 180-grain bullet at 2,800 feet per second, and is regularly used to cleanly kill animals up to the size of a moose. I've recovered 20-30 bullets and bullet fragments from big-game animals over the years, fired from rifles chambered for the .30-06 and more powerful rounds; the condition of the bullet described in the Kirk case isn't at all unusual.
It will be roundly interesting to see what arguments the defense may base on this report when the formal trial begins. Stay tuned for that.
Tyler Robinson, if convicted, faces a possible death sentence for the assassination.
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