USA29 September, 20262 min read
Utah Man Robert L. Hild Jr. Sues Candace Owens Over False Charlie Kirk Assassination Links
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BYU graduate Robert Hild Jr. sues Candace Owens for defamation over Kirk killing claims. Video shows he was in the crowd during the suspect's photo; Owens ignored.
7 outlets told this the same way.
Lawsuit in Utah
Robert L. Hild, Jr. sued podcaster Candace Owens, alleging she falsely linked him to Charlie Kirk’s assassination through alleged ties to malicious foreign actors.
Hild said he was “in the audience in Orem that day” and “experienced the trauma of watching a horrific murder up close,” according to the lawsuit described by ABC4 Utah.
Hild’s complaint says Owens posted “over 150 episodes” about the assassination and allegedly claimed that foreign actors, the U.S. military, the Utah government, Utah Valley University, Kirk’s former head of security, and Charlie Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk, helped participate in the assassination.
Hild’s suit also alleges Owens claimed Hild has ties to a “gothic, [and] communist underground” and “contributed to Kirk’s death,” and it quotes the complaint saying, “Owens neither cares about the truth nor the harmful effects [affects] her lies have on hertargets.”
Crowd footage and theories
The lawsuit described Hild and his friend Shaner Broderick visiting Utah Valley University on September 10 to attend the Turning Point USA American Comeback Tour, with the two seated about 15-20 yards from where Charlie Kirk was expected to speak. The complaint says video footage from multiple private individuals, media organizations, and Turning Point reportedly showed Hild in the crowd between approximately 11:52 p.m. to 12:23 p.m. when Kirk was shot, and it says Hild and Broderick then ran to Broderick’s grandmother’s house near UVU campus.
The lawsuit alleges Owens used Broderick’s social media posts and his relation to Phil Lyman to further her theories, and it says Owens compared Hild, in one of Broderick’s photographs, to FBI photos of the suspect. The Washington Examiner described Hild’s new federal complaint as alleging Owens told her audience of millions that Hild “contributed to Kirk’s assassination” and had ties to malicious foreign actors and a “gothic” and “communist” “underground,” which she associated with the murder.
Threats and damages sought
Hild’s lawsuit says Owens’ “false statements about Hild have upended his life, irreparably damaged his reputation, and made him a target for verbal attack and physical threats from Owens’ substantial following.” The Times of India reported that Hild said he repeatedly sought a retraction, but the disputed statements continued to circulate among Owens’ audience.
The Washington Examiner said Hild’s lawyers described him as a “target for verbal attack” and death threats by Owens’s followers, and it said the complaint alleged threats, stalking, doxxing, vandalism, and “severe emotional distress” followed. Hild’s suit sought compensatory and punitive damages, and it framed the case as “the only remaining means of vindicating his reputation” and “protecting himself from further harm,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune.