It has been a little less than two weeks since right-wing podcaster Tim Pool reported on X that shots had been fired at his rural West Virginia residence. At the time, he stated that he was in contact with both the local police and the FBI; and even noted that shots were audible on his Chicken City livestream.
It fit right in the pattern of rising left-wing political violence in the United States, which took the life of Charlie Kirk earlier this year. The first voices of doubt came from Candace Owens. However, although popular, she has been discredited to most reasonable people due to her outlandish conspiracies about the Kirk assassination.
After a while, new speculators online came forward in questioning Pool’s version of events.
An online creator claiming to be an old Marine recorded himself calling the Sheriff’s Office in Tim Pool’s county. He was told on the recording that they have no trace of a report of a shooting incident on that day. This was the first piece of information that cast some reasonable doubt about the shooting story.
However, initially, this was quickly discarded by claims that the creator—who, strangely, is hard to track down, and his video is much more easily searchable in third-party uploads—called the wrong county's station by accident. Another creator, Cam Higby, repeated the inquiry, and he claims to have gotten an affirmative answer from the local law enforcement in another WV county.
At this point, things seem to be going Tim Pool’s way again. However, in yet another twist to the story, the national tabloid TMZ also reached out to the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office. A spokesperson replied to their inquiry that ‘reports of shots fired at this residence cannot be substantiated at this time.’
At a fourth attempt, independent journalist Andy Ngo (who is typically viewed as a right-wing figure) got another answer from Berkeley County police, claiming there had been ‘loud bangs’ heard at the residence and deputies were dispatched to the location.
This message was posted on 10 December, four days after the alleged incident. Whether or not shots actually were fired is reasonably expected to have been confirmed by then, since discovering bullet holes, traces of gun powder, or shell casings on the property would have been sufficient for that.
In his first video response to the incident, Pool spent most of his time complaining about the cost of security. He claims it is jeopardizing the future of his show, as it may make it no longer profitable to produce. The more cynical observers interpreted this as an attempt to launch a fundraising campaign on the back of the alleged shooting.
In the meantime, Tim Pool has also gotten into a nasty internet fight with Candace Owens after she questioned his version of events, and even tried to implicate the alleged victim's brother. Both prominent online figures were throwing personal insults at each other—it certainly seems like the otherwise widely successful Pool is not going to have a merry, jolly Christmas time this year.
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