Charlie Kirk murder suspect wearing pro-Trump t-shirt?

The murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, shot while participating in a debate on a university campus in the state of Utah, in the United States, has sparked the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories.

The focus has been on the sole suspect in the case: 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who was arrested on the 13th and has since been used by both the left and right as a potential weapon of political influence, in a battle waged primarily on social media. One theory that circulated with great public repercussion was that the alleged killer was a supporter of current US President Donald Trump, allegedly belonging to the so-called MAGA movement.

An example of this were several posts on Facebook and Threads that displayed a photograph of the alleged perpetrator of Charlie Kirk's murder wearing a red t-shirt, on which an American flag was visible, along with Trump's name and the message that embodies the movement created by the White House leader: "Make America Great Again."

However, this photograph of Tyler Robinson is not authentic. The original photo was shared on Facebook by the suspect's mother in 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal , and shows the 22-year-old wearing a basic t-shirt, without any images or text, in a slightly darker color than the one currently on display.

The original image of Tyler Robinson in his college dorm room was also published in major media outlets, as you can see in these links from ABC News or the Daily Mail .

At the same time, other media outlets, notably AFP and CNN , have also fact-checked this and other information about Charlie Kirk's death, confirming the manipulation of Tyler Robinson's image — both in this case for a pro-Trump message and support for the MAGA movement, and for other manipulations spread online of the same photo with alleged support for former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

In fact, Tyler Robinson is not believed to have political affiliation with either the Republicans or the Democrats, according to the information known so far about the case.

Conclusion

The images of Tyler Robinson, the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk, wearing a t-shirt supporting Donald Trump and the MAGA movement are fake, having manipulated a photo of the young man previously posted on social media by his mother and which contained no message or image.

So, according to the Observer's rating system, this content is:

WRONG

In Facebook's rating system , this content is:

FALSE : The content's main claims are factually inaccurate. This option typically corresponds to "false" or "mostly false" ratings on fact-checking websites.

NOTE: this content was selected by Observador as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.