Did Arizona teachers mock the murder of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk by wearing 'Problem Solved' T-shirts covered in what looked like artificial blood? No, that's not true: According to the school district's superintendent, in a since-deleted Facebook post reported on by local media outlets, the T-shirts predated the assassination of Turning Point USA Co-Founder Kirk by more than a year and had nothing to do with him. The items were purchased in 2024 and worn by the teachers for two Halloweens in a row.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on November 1, 2025 on the @AndrewKolvet account of Turning Point USA Spokesman Andrew Kolvet. It read:
Concerned parents just sent us this image of what's believed to be teachers in @vailschools in Tuscon, Arizona mocking Charlie's murder with costumes that read 'Problem Solved' and blood down the left side of their shirts. They deserve to be famous, and fired.
The post included an image. This is what it looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/AndrewKolvet)
Yet, a local TV station -- E.W. Scripps Company-owned KGUN 9 (archived here), the ABC affiliate in the Tucson-Sierra Vista television market -- published an article refuting the claim (archived here and here).
In particular, it cited a statement from John Carruth (archived here), the Vail school district's superintendent. He explained that the image portrayed Cienega High teachers wearing math-themed "Problem Solved" Halloween T-shirts and that those T-shirts were bought and first worn in the fall of 2024, almost a year before Charlie Kirk's assassination September 10, 2025 (archived here).
The KGUN report included the post, which, in part, read as follows:
... We want to clarify that these shirts were part of a math-themed Halloween costume meant to represent solving tough math problems. The shirts were never intended to target any person, event, or political issue.
Unfortunately, the image is being shared online with false claims that they were intended as a statement of recent events in our country. This is unequivocally untrue. The shirts were purchased online and were also worn last year as part of the same math-themed costumes, long before recent events. For anyone questioning the validity that the shirts were worn last year, I am happy to provide the photo to you.
KGUN quoted Carruth writing that despite false reports about the shirts, the "Problem solved" T-shirts will not be worn again.
