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Demonstration of a Shaped Charge

This page presents a video demonstration of what a large shaped charge looks like when it detonates. The clip was circulated by defenders of the government's rifle narrative as a challenge to the exploding mic conclusion that most citizen investigators have reached: if a shaped charge had detonated on Charlie Kirk, they asked, why does the event footage not show a smoke and debris cloud like this one? The page records that question and the geometry questions that followed it, and sets out how investigators have answered each one. The short answer is scale: a breaching-size demonstration charge is not the gram-scale device investigators describe inside a lavalier transmitter.

Satirical LEGO-animated music video referencing Charlie Kirk's RØDE mic, via @RickyTheGuido, July 24, 2026. IPFS CID Qmd6zPTaBkhDSqCA9nEVrx1e7JsgAEUV7qSDu1pGELiPZJ.

Demonstration of a real shaped charge detonating, producing a large smoke cloud. Originally posted by @Trillion0x on X and quote-shared by @troofevades, June 2026.

The Question Raised​

The video was originally posted by @Trillion0x, who used it to push back on the exploding-mic theory as it went viral again. According to @Trillion0x:

"CK exploding RODE mic is going viral again, bc it's wrong. More absurd CK theories go more viral. It would take less than an afternoon to demonstrate the theory. Jon Bray has been promising to do a simulated test of his theory for over 6mo. Where's that at? Shaped charges are [as shown]."

The clip was then quote-shared by @troofevades, who added:

"Well, thats a lot of smoke that I dont see at the CK event. Holy fuck."

The question is straightforward: the charge in the demonstration produces a fireball, a substantial smoke cloud and scattered debris, and no cloud of that size is visible in the Utah Valley University footage. Investigators answer that the comparison is one of scale, not of kind. The demonstration uses a charge sized to breach material; the device investigators describe is a gram-scale micro-charge or explosively formed penetrator (EFP) inside a transmitter body, pressed against the body under a shirt, which would vent far less visible smoke into open air. And the UVU footage is not clean of a blast signature: video frame analysis shows the shirt expanding outward before the wound appears, and slow-motion clips show dark fragments falling from under the shirt.

How Investigators Answer It​

The rest of the Microphone section documents the case made by Jon Bray's video analysis, the RØDE Wireless PRO mic, the exploding pendant variant, and the Navy SEAL testimony of Rob O'Neill. Investigators conclude the device was very small — a micro-charge or explosively formed penetrator (EFP) rather than a large breaching charge — and would not produce the smoke cloud seen in this demonstration.

Asked whether even a small charge would leave a visible signature, investigators point to the signature the footage does show — the outward fabric motion, the Canon XA55 audio separating a louder event at the tent from a distant report, and the debris in the SUV. On @Trillion0x's challenge that the theory could be tested in "less than an afternoon," investigators note that the decisive test was always available to the authorities: a residue swab of the shirt, the necklace, the SUV and the soil — none of which has ever been publicly released (see the residue cover-up hub).

The geometry questions, and investigators' answers (2026)​

Smoke was not the only question raised. In late June 2026, veteran commentator @angertab (Matt Tardio) posted a graphics-heavy thread arguing that a shaped charge that fits a RØDE Wireless–class envelope fails on stand-off and priming geometry: the detonator must be rear-center-primed; penetration through steel at optimal stand-off is a fraction of cone diameter; at shirt-to-neck distances far beyond optimal stand-off, the jet dissipates; and even a “directional” charge still produces outward blast that, in his view, would tear a large hole in the shirt and damage pectoral tissue. He attached a small-mass PETN demo as a scale reference and concluded the mic-shaped-charge kill claim is physically impossible as framed.

A related free-body argument (circulated by handles such as @i11umin8ed) holds that a shaped charge needs rigid attachment to the target; otherwise the device itself is launched opposite the jet “like a rocket.” A clip-on lav without metal strapping, in that view, cannot deliver a focused jet into the neck.

These posts are citizen analyses, not peer-reviewed ballistics papers, and they assume a classic Monroe-liner charge that investigators do not propose. Investigators answer that an EFP / micro-charge works under different stand-off rules, that the transmitter was routed under the shirt and held against the body rather than hanging loose, that the video analysis shows fabric motion consistent with overpressure, and that the energetic may have been a LiPO runaway rather than a lined charge at all. A "rocket" recoil of the device is also what investigators say the falling fragments and the burnt object in the SUV reflect. The government's narrative remains a rooftop rifle shot.

X.com posts:​

Public commentary​

The large majority of citizen investigators on X have concluded the exploding mic killed Charlie Kirk; this demonstration is one of the challenges they have answered:

  • Shaped-charge demonstration videos circulated by handles such as @Trillion0x and @troofevades show large smoke and fireball signatures and ask why the UVU footage lacks a comparable cloud.
  • Investigators answer that a micro-charge / EFP would not resemble a breaching demo, and that the footage does show outward fabric motion and falling fragments.
  • @alexboge (July 2026) elaborates Monroe-effect geometry requirements (liner, standoff, rigid fixation) and argues a 32 g clip-on RØDE cannot satisfy them without inventing a second “primer” charge — labeled by that author as epicycle reasoning.
  • No court has yet examined residue evidence; none has been publicly tested.

This website does not assert as fact that any living person named here committed a crime, did anything wrong or illegal, or had any knowledge of or involvement in the assassination. Names appear only in the context of public discussion. Nothing here is a finding by this website.

Commentator coverage: Citizen journalist Ian Carroll has called the shaped-charge/exploding-mic hypothesis the "best evidenced" theory in his public commentary while saying he is not certain of it, and has echoed the demand seen on this page for filmed, replicated tests to settle the debate — his stated opinion, not an established finding.

Interesting In This Area​

Interesting In Other Areas​

  • No residue test was ever published — the one test that would have settled the cause of death.

Images​

This is a medium close-up shot of an elderly, bald man wearing a blue button-down shirt and wire-rimmed glasses, who appears to have his hands detained behind his back.
This is a medium close-up shot of an elderly, bald man wearing a blue button-down shirt and wire-rimmed glasses, who appears to have his hands detained behind his back.
This is a medium close-up outdoor photograph capturing an elderly bald man with glasses in a blue shirt, who appears to have his hands secured behind his back as he is escorted by…
This is a medium close-up outdoor photograph capturing an elderly bald man with glasses in a blue shirt, who appears to have his hands secured behind his back as he is escorted by another man.
This low-resolution outdoor image captures a modern building balcony where a small, white four-legged robotic dog is performing a jump or flip in mid-air.
This low-resolution outdoor image captures a modern building balcony where a small, white four-legged robotic dog is performing a jump or flip in mid-air.
An aerial, high-angle photograph looking down at a large crowd of people gathered on a terraced, V-shaped grassy lawn.
An aerial, high-angle photograph looking down at a large crowd of people gathered on a terraced, V-shaped grassy lawn.
This image is a composite graphic featuring a real-life photograph of a man in profile speaking into a microphone, overlaid with a detailed medical illustration of a human skull…
This image is a composite graphic featuring a real-life photograph of a man in profile speaking into a microphone, overlaid with a detailed medical illustration of a human skull and cervical spine.
This is a low-resolution, vertically oriented screenshot capturing an outdoor event, likely a political rally or public demonstration, where a physical altercation or scuffle is…
This is a low-resolution, vertically oriented screenshot capturing an outdoor event, likely a political rally or public demonstration, where a physical altercation or scuffle is taking place.
This is a composite image or digital collage presented on a solid black background, containing five distinct, white-bordered video screenshots of an outdoor political rally or…
This is a composite image or digital collage presented on a solid black background, containing five distinct, white-bordered video screenshots of an outdoor political rally or public demonstration.

Other Pages In This Section​

This image captures an outdoor scene on a city sidewalk where several police officers are gathered around what appears to be an active investigation or scene response.

The DoD Contract — Miniaturized-XS Anti-Personnel Charges

A paralegal who says she handles defense procurements walked through a USASpending contract for miniaturized anti-personnel charges. Its delivery deadline is August 25, 2025 — the same day the AmFest flyer dropped.

Read this

FBI Seized Clothing From Charlie's Security Team

The clothing worn by the people closest to Kirk in the minutes after the shot is exactly the substrate residue testing works on. Whether it was ever tested is the question; the claim itself is secondhand and unverified.

Read this
This is a digital screenshot of a webpage from USAspending.gov displaying a "Contract Summary" award profile.

AES — Accurate Energetic Systems Factory Explosion

Building 602 in McEwen, Tennessee went up on October 10, 2025 with roughly 24,000 pounds of material inside, and sixteen workers were killed. It happened a month after the killing and weeks after researchers named the plant.

Read this

"Get That Off Of Him" — Alleged 911 Call Audio Tip

A line reportedly caught on a 911 call from the vehicle: "get that off of him." The clip is unverified and the poster does not say what "that" was — which is exactly why it keeps circulating.

Read this

Elsewhere In The Investigation​

Visual Representation of Reported Injuries — anatomical chart marking, in red, the reported injury locations across the front and back torso, the neck, the internal chest, and two views of the brain.

Cause of Death

One page stating what most independent investigators had concluded by July 2026 about what killed Charlie Kirk and what did not. The official account is a single .30-06 round; this is where the reasons for rejecting it are gathered.

Read this

This website's author is @HolonCitizen on X and YouTube/@HolonCitizen. Follow me there.

More angles in this section​

A large breaching-style demo is the wrong measuring stick; investigators answer that a micro-charge or EFP would not look like that clip—see high explosive for compound scale and the video analysis for what the UVU frames actually show. Acoustic arguments that something near the tent still boomed are on the Canon XA55 audio page. Hardware envelopes people try to fit a charge into are the RØDE Wireless PRO and the crucifix pendant, compared in mic vs pendant. Industrial “mini anti-personnel” procurement talk that often travels with this debate is on the DoD contract, AES, and factory explosion pages. On energetics, explosive residue and the residue cover-up hub remain the cheapest public tests still unreleased.

Interesting​

  • The AES factory holding PETN was obliterated a month after UVU, with FOIA reportedly denied.
  • Analysts say the shirt balloons and the necklace snaps frames before any blood appears.
  • The shirt pull at the instant of the shot is examined frame by frame.
  • Theories
  • Medical
  • Proof Not Tyler