By Dave Workman
Authorities in Utah have the suspected assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in custody, and there are promises to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. Utah has the death penalty.
The suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a Utah resident living in Washington County.
According to NBC News, authorities identified the rifle used in the murder as a Mauser 98. It is a fairly common bolt-action rifle, and countless numbers of these rifles have been sporterized for use with domestic calibers, including .30-06, which is the caliber that has been reported as the one for which the murder weapon is chambered. A single shot was fired, striking Kirk in the neck.
NBC News is reporting that three unfired cartridges retrieved from the rifle were inscribed with messages which included, “Hey fascists! Catch!” A second cartridge had this message: “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao,” and a third said, “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.”
In the hours following Kirk’s fatal shooting on the campus of Utah Valley University, much has been said by so-called “experts” about the 200-yard shot which struck the 31-year-old Kirk as he sat in the shade of a canopy, talking to a crowd of about 3,000.
Experienced shooters and big game hunters, especially in the West, have noted on social media that 200 yards is not a long shot for someone using a scoped, bolt-action hunting rifle.
The Mauser 98 action has been a favorite of shooters and hunters sporterizing surplus military arms because it has a strong, reliable action.
According to the Mauser website, “The MAUSER 98 action is regarded as the forefather of all modern bolt action rifles. Built in the millions, copied in the thousands, never matched. We have had the original for 125 years. A fact we want to celebrate!”
Videos posted by Utah authorities showing the suspect running across the top of the building from which the shot was fired. He climbed over the edge of the roof and dropped several feet to the ground, with the rifle apparently wrapped in a towel, and fled.
The rifle was found, still wrapped in the towel, in a wooded area, authorities said.
The aftermath of Kirk’s slaying ignited a national debate which bared the extremes currently at play in the U.S.
It is not clear how the suspect obtained the rifle. Those details may emerge in the days ahead. When the Mauser was recovered, there was an empty case in the chamber, and three live rounds in the magazine.
In the aftermath, much will be discussed, but possibly one of the most poignant messages appeared Friday morning at The Outdoor Wire, authored by Kat Ainsworth Stevens, whose byline has appeared in TGM in the past. She is an accomplished gun writer now living in the Southwest.
