Nick PenzenstadlerUSA TODAY
A popular gun YouTuber expressed shock that the man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump was wearing one of his branded t-shirts.
Images of the shooter that circulated online − after he was killed by Secret Service agents − showed him wearing a beige T-shirt with logo and American flag on the sleeve that match one sold by the online channel Demolition Ranch.
Matt Carriker, a Texas-based influencer with more than 11 million subscribers, initially posted a photo Saturday of the shooter in his shirt with the line, “What the hell?” and pledged to put out a statement via YouTube.
That statement arrived Monday afternoon.
He wished the victims of the shooting well and said his channel is not meant to incite violence or hate.
“We don’t vet the people who buys our shirts. ... I wish I could, I would love keep people like that from buying, wearing, being associated with that article of clothing," Carriker said in his video. “The difference in a gunman wearing a pair of Nike shoes and a gunman wearing my T-shirt is this brand is much more personal to me. ... To see my name next to the shooter’s name, it sucks, and I wish we could keep that from happening.”
Carriker said has been deluged with news requests, but he never met or knew the Trump shooter.
More: Online footprint ties gunman’s father to gun marketplaces
Carriker, 38, a former veterinarian-turned internet celebrity has a sprawling empire of online content, merchandise and firearms training based in Texas. His channel is a variety show of shooting, reviews and entertainment around guns.
A friend and fellow so-called “guntuber” Brandon Herrera defended Carriker’s video content and called it an “apolitical, family-friendly G-rated shooting channel.”
“Demolition Ranch is the best of us, and the slander being thrown his way is heinous,” Herrera told USA TODAY. “Demolition Ranch has as much to do with the assassination as (YouTuber) PewDiePie had with the Christchurch shooter. The idea he should change his content or merch is absurd.”
In 2019, a gunman killed 51 people in two mosques in New Zealand — but uttered: “Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie” on his livestream of the shooting. The Swedish YouTuber distanced himself from the meme and dealt with the fallout days after the attack.
In February, Carriker announced online that a portion of that portfolio, his wife’s active-wear clothing line, would shutter and she and his children would back away from the online appearances. He cited threatening behavior from Internet subscribers.
“We’ve had people drive to our house, jump our gate, walk down to our house and knock on the door,” Carriker said. “They get answered with me with a gun. It hasn’t ended well for anyone who has done that.”
Carriker said his family had been the subject of hacked cell phones, social media and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
“We’ve had issues with stalkers that are just invested in our lives too much,” Carriker said. “All of this stuff was brought on by us, we put all this information on the internet with our faces and names.”
After Saturday's shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, which left one man dead and others as well as Trump wounded, Fans of the YouTube channel posted on message boards and sent messages of support to the brand. The top comment on Carriker’s post was a fan – a member of the Demolitia, as they’re known – saying he would wear different colored variations of the same shirt worn by the Trump shooter as a sign of support.
“The actual Demolitia have your back 100%,” he wrote.
More: Just a hobby or reckless marketing gimmick? The world of kid gun influencers.
The shooter’s merchandise was reminiscent of other high-profile tactical and shooting brands having a brush with current events.
Many of the Jan. 6 rioters were spotted wearing tactical gear — like plate carriers, designed to hold bulletproof plates. A photo of one rioter wearing a Grunt Style sweatshirt stirred controversy.
The San Antonio CEO of that brand quickly tried to distance himself from the rioters.
Similar attention fell on Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old from Illinois who was acquitted in the shooting deaths of two people during the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riot in 2020. The first images broadcast worldwide were of the teen holding his AR-style rifle at his home, wearing a 5.11 logo T-shirt.
The shooting gear provider Brownells distanced itself from Jan. 6 rioters wearing its clothing. Ryan Repp, Brownell’s vice president of marketing, wrote to USA TODAY in 2020: “Brownells does not encourage anyone to engage in acts to overthrow the government through any means or marketing tactic.”
Nick Penzenstadler is a reporter on the USA TODAY investigations team, focusing primarily on firearms and consumer financial protection. Contact him at npenz@usatoday.com or @npenzenstadler, or on Signal at (720) 507-5273.
