Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer scratched bullets with a Helldivers combo and a furry sex meme

Tyler Robinson, apprehended past nighttime successful transportation to the fatal shooting of blimpish activistic Charlie Kirk, allegedly near engraved bullets astatine the transgression country that were covered successful a furry meme, a notation from the video crippled Helldivers 2, and an highly online taunt.

In an FBI briefing this greeting astir his arrest, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox described the series of events that led to the seizure of Robinson, 22, who was turned into the constabulary by his father. They besides clarified the quality of the notes engraved connected the slug casings recovered astatine the scene, which had been rumored to beryllium slogans relating to antifascist and “transgender ideology.” As it turns out, the messages are a confusing premix of net memes and popular culture.

As described, the bullets work (exact capitalization not confirmed astatine this point):

• “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?”
• “Hey fascist! Catch!” Up arrow symbol, close arrow, 3 down arrow symbols
• “Oh bella ciao bella ciao bella ciao ciao ciao”
• “If you work this, you are cheery lmao”

The archetypal slug casing, which was fired, is simply a meme referring to furry online roleplay, according to Know Your Meme.

It’s not hard to spot wherever the “antifascist” decision came from connected 2 of the different bullets: “Bella ciao” is an Italian opus adopted by partisans and absorption fighters portion Italy was governed by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Cox said successful effect to a question during the league that the “hey fascist” connection “speaks for itself.” Three downward-slanting arrows are a awesome utilized by some humanities and modern antifascists.

But the afloat arrow series was rapidly recognized arsenic thing else: a combo from Helldivers 2 for calling the Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem. The satellite of Helldivers — which evokes Robert Heinlein’s publication Starship Troopers and the consequent movie — concerns fascism thematically; developer Arrowhead has characterized it arsenic a satire wherever players combat for a fascist state.

As for the usage of “Bella ciao,” the opus has nary evident transportation but fixed its humanities significance, unsurprisingly does look successful a Helldivers 2 mod, arsenic good arsenic successful astatine slightest 1 different video game, a World War II-themed strategy crippled called Hearts of Iron IV.

The fatal shooting of Kirk connected Wednesday led to an aggravated manhunt crossed Utah, though it encountered galore complications on the way. Several leads, publically teased by FBI Director Kash Patel, rapidly petered out. Leaked documents from instrumentality enforcement published by MAGA influencers led to mendacious narratives astir however markings connected the slug indicated that the shooter was successful favour of “transgender ideology.” 

It was astir intolerable to divorcement authorities and net misinformation from Kirk’s death, however. The 31-year-old was a almighty fig successful the MAGA movement, arsenic the laminitis and person of the right-wing assemblage radical Turning Point USA, and a salient podcaster and MAGA influencer himself, celebrated for appearing connected assemblage campuses to face wide students. President Donald Trump credited Kirk and TPUSA arsenic a origin successful his instrumentality to office, and often relied connected him arsenic an emissary to younker voters. 

In the aftermath of Kirk’s death, his allies successful the MAGA movement, including lawmakers and influencers, promised swift retribution against the near should the slayer stock their ideology. The themes of Helldivers 2 could person an ideological meaning, albeit not needfully a straightforward one. But ultimately, the messages connected the shooter’s slug casings tin champion beryllium described arsenic bizarre and highly online. 

According to the FBI, grounds starring to Robinson’s apprehension included screenshots from his roommate’s Discord chat, successful which helium mentioned leaving a firearm wrapped successful a towel successful immoderate bushes. Law enforcement recovered a Mauser .30-06 from an country adjacent the field that was wrapped successful a towel. 

Fans of the crippled instantly noticed. Shortly aft the property league connected Friday morning, the Helldivers subreddit was flooded with players who had picked up connected what whitethorn beryllium references to the game. A thread, present deleted, was titled: “Hey Facist Catch!” with the poster asking, “Did anyone other hear/notice?!” A commenter, responding to the thread, said, “The infinitesimal I heard [the arrows] my eyes widened.”

Another thread, besides seemingly deleted by moderators, referenced the arrows that authorities accidental were connected 1 of the unfired slug casings recovered astatine the scene. “It sickens maine having radical similar this playing this crippled and utilizing it to existent unit to tarnish this awesome crippled and community,” the poster wrote. Other posts implored the subreddit moderators to fastener down the forum. Moderators for the subreddit didn’t instantly respond to a petition for comment. A thread successful the abstracted r/Helldivers2 subreddit remains active, with radical discussing the evident parallels.

Arrowhead, the shaper of the Helldivers games, did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.