The surrounding scene from various distances and angles at the moment the target was struck are reflected in numerous video and photo evidence available for independent analysis on global social media, including official media outlets. According to the official investigation by the FBI, a lone gunman fired a single shot from a Mauzer rifle caliber .30-60 Springfield from a distance of 130 meters. The bullet was said to have remained in the victim's neck and would be presumed, according to the statutory investigative procedure, to have been removed for presentation by the prosecution as key evidence for the cause of death.

The victim's funeral took place on September 21, 2025. The only report directly associated with the bullet was "the coroner found a bullet just under Kirk's skin." This suggests that the autopsy was performed and its results should have been included in the investigation file before the funeral. The human neck does not pose a serious obstacle for a rifle bullet of the stated caliber. The bullet would have easily passed through muscles, the trachea, blood vessels (carotid arteries, jugular veins), and, with a high probability, even the cervical vertebrae, since at such a close range for its specification, the bullet loses very little of its velocity and energy. Depending on the bullet type (150 grains or 180 grains refers to the weight of the projectile, not the cartridge; a grain is the weight of a barley grain = 0.064 grams), its muzzle velocity ranges from 830 to 900 m/s or more. Its muzzle energy at the muzzle is approximately 3,500-3,800 joules. For comparison, the energy of a 9x19 mm pistol is approximately 500 joules. At this distance, the bullet would still have had a velocity of approximately 700-850 m/s and an energy of approximately 2,500-3,000 joules. The energy retained by a standard .30-06 caliber bullet with a standard propellant charge at a range of 130 meters, without interference or ricochet, is more than sufficient to guarantee penetration of the human body, including bone.

This fact logically raises the question of why the coroner found the bullet "under the skin" of the victim.

The fact that the bullet stopped a .30-06 round fired from 130 meters into a human neck under ideal ballistic conditions is inexplicable from a standard ballistics perspective. To explain it, one would have to assume a confluence of exceptional and unlikely circumstances, such as a worn gun barrel, an incomplete powder charge in the cartridge, a homemade cartridge, the use of a specific bullet with abnormally high expansion (such as a bullet used for small game hunting), combined with a hit on dense bone. Other factors producing such an outcome include an extremely acute angle of impact (if the bullet entered the neck almost tangentially, it could travel a long distance through soft tissue, for example, from the back of the head to the clavicle in an arc), significantly increasing the contact area and energy loss; or a hit on a cervical vertebra, if the bullet struck the body of the cervical vertebra directly. The circumstances under which a bullet would expend all its kinetic energy on shattering dense bone tissue upon impact are not decisive for the case under consideration. A .30-06 bullet typically either shatters a vertebra and continues onward, or lodges within it, but not in the soft tissue behind it.

Conclusion: In a real forensic examination, such a result would be an extremely rare occurrence, requiring a thorough investigation of all its details, such as the type of weapon, the quality of the cartridges, the powder, the bullet, the trajectory, etc.