The Wall Street Journal has quietly walked back early reporting that suggested the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was linked to transgender people. Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox contradicted the paper’s reporting in a Friday morning press conference.
"Ammunition in Kirk Shooting Engraved With Transgender, Antifascist Ideology: Sources,” The Journal’s headline read on Thursday.
"Investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology inside the rifle that authorities believe was used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, according to an internal law-enforcement bulletin and a person familiar with the investigation,” two Wall Street Journal reporters who shared a byline on the story wrote.
That framing—untested, unattributed, and speculative—was amplified by commentators eager to draw a connection to transgender people. However, Justice Department officials were urging caution, stressing that the bulletin’s details were preliminary and possibly misread, The New York Times reported Thursday.
By late Thursday, the Journal updated its headline to read, “Early Bulletin Said Ammunition in Kirk Shooting Engraved With Transgender, Antifascist Ideology; Some Sources Urge Caution.”
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