Have fact-checkers traced the origin of the 'wished the shooter hadn't missed' claim?

1. The origin fact-checkers identified: a single Facebook post

Lead Stories’ investigation traced the specific phrasing and viral claim to a December 16 Facebook post by the account @TreyGowdySupporters, which framed the allegation as an unreferenced quote and provided no evidence or link to any primary source; fact-checkers emphasize that the post itself carried the claim rather than any documented Reiner comment ^{[1] [2]}. Searches of major news aggregators and keyword searches turned up no contemporaneous reports or interview transcripts in which Reiner was recorded saying he “wished the assassin hadn’t missed,” a gap fact-checkers interpreted as strong evidence the quote is fabricated or misattributed ^{[1] [2]}.

2. What the fact-checks actually found and who they cited

Lead Stories explicitly reported that it “found no evidence” Reiner ever uttered the line and that “a source close to the family” told the outlet the claim was “nonsense,” language repeated across the syndication of that fact-check on Yahoo News ^{[1] [2]}. Independent aggregation of social comments—threads, archives and search snapshots—also show the allegation proliferated in partisan threads and reposts rather than originating in a mainstream interview or public statement by Reiner, a pattern fact-checkers flagged as typical of fabricated attributions ^{[4] [3]}.

3. Possible confusion with other individuals who made similar remarks

Context matters: there are documented instances of public figures making analogous, explicit comments about the 2024 assault on Donald Trump—most notably musician Kyle Gass, who was reported by PennLive in July 2024 as saying during a concert that he “wished the shooter didn’t miss” ^[5]. Fact-checkers warn that fabricated attributions often exploit the existence of real but separate incidents to lend false credibility to claims about different people; this creates plausible deniability when a high-profile name like Reiner is retrofitted onto an existing narrative ^{[5] [3]}.

4. Why the claim spread and who benefits from it

The rapid spread of the quote fits a known playbook: a short, incendiary line attributed to a well-known partisan cultural figure can be used to justify or retaliate against a political target’s own controversial remarks, shaping outrage cycles and deflecting accountability; fact-checks hinted at this dynamic by noting the post’s framing—“You Liberals are all butt hurt…”—which is explicitly rhetorical and designed to inflame partisan audiences rather than to document fact ^[1]. While fact-checkers avoid speculating on motive beyond observable patterns, they do note that misattributions frequently circulate to neutralize criticism or create false equivalencies ^{[1] [3]}.

5. Limits of the available reporting and remaining uncertainties

The published fact-checks are clear that they could not find a primary source—an interview clip, social post by Reiner, or press statement—containing the wording attributed to Reiner, and they relied on searches of news databases, archived social posts, and a family source for their conclusion ^{[1] [2]}. If there exists a privately recorded or deleted remark not captured in archives, the fact-checks cannot rule that out from the material they examined; their conclusion rests on the absence of any verifiable attribution in the public record they searched ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

6. Bottom line: traced, debunked, but watch for copycat attributions

Fact-checkers have traced the circulating allegation to a specific December 16 Facebook post and, finding no supporting evidence and receiving a denial via a family source, have debunked the claim that Rob Reiner publicly said he “wished the assassin hadn’t missed” ^{[1] [2]}. The episode underscores how a single unverified post can graft a sensational quote onto a public figure—especially when similar statements by other celebrities exist—and why verification against original audio, video, or contemporaneous reporting remains essential ^{[5] [3]}.