Fact Check: Was a book on Charlie Kirk’s shooting published before the attack?

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: In mid-September 2025, days after the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, a rumor spread across social media, claiming a book about the attack had been published the day before the shooting took place.

Screenshots of an Amazon listing appeared to show the title 'The Shooting of Charlie Kirk' with a publication date of September 9, 2025, one day before the September 10 event, prompting speculation that the tragedy was staged.

Claim: Book about Charlie Kirk shooting published on Amazon before attack

Posts that went viral on September 11 featured screenshots of an Amazon product page listing the e-book with a September 9 publication date.

Some users alleged the early release proved the shooting was pre-planned or part of a conspiracy.

One Facebook post with more than 1,000 reactions read, “🔥🚨BREAKING: A book on Charlie Kirk’s s-ting surfaced with a listed publish date BEFORE the tragedy… Clerical error… or something more?” The posts also included claims that Amazon “mysteriously” removed the book after attention grew online.

FALSE: Book on Charlie Kirk shooting was uploaded after attack, not before

Amazon told Snopes that the September 9 publication date was the result of a technical error. The spokesperson said the book was actually uploaded late in the day on September 10, after the shooting, and later removed for violating content guidelines.

Archived listings from the Wayback Machine and other services also show no securely dated versions before September 11. Other fact-checking outlets, including LeadStories and PolitiFact have also debunked the rumor.

While the book’s listing momentarily displayed a date that fueled conspiracy theories, all available evidence points to it being uploaded after the event took place, not before.

The full title of the Kindle-only e-book was 'The Shooting of Charlie Kirk: A Comprehensive Account of the Utah Valley University Attack, the Aftermath, and America’s Response.' Its description included details about the September 10 events, confirming it was written after the shooting.

The author, “Anastasia J Casey,” had no digital footprint, suggesting a fictional or pseudonymous identity. An AI-detection tool flagged the description as 100% AI-generated, matching a broader pattern of low-quality, automatically produced content, often called “AI slop”, appearing after high-profile tragedies to exploit public attention.

A similar case emerged in 2023, when a book about the Maui wildfires was falsely said to have been published before the fires broke out but was actually uploaded afterward.