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Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, left some very deliberate messages behind after he allegedly fired the fatal shot at Utah Valley University earlier this week, according to investigators.
The 22-year-old carefully inscribed bullet casings with references to obscure online subcultures and left them at the scene, they said. When piecing together the days before the shooting, investigators said he had expressed his open dislike of Kirk. They later learned that he spent lots of time online and had an affinity for guns.
But days after the shooting, authorities have yet to discover a coherent motive for the killing of Kirk—the founder of Turning Point USA and a popular figure on the American right—and experts on extremism are similarly baffled by the possible motivations.
Read more: The Killing of Charlie Kirk and the Political Violence Haunting America
Robinson’s alleged decision to leave messages to be interpreted by investigators in his wake is common for perpetrators of political violence. What makes this case unique, however, is how obscure the messages were; they contain references to memes and in-jokes that could only be understood by a niche community of online gamers.
Those messages, and the scant information about his past that has emerged so far, have given both sides of the political spectrum enough room to claim him for the other side.
Messages on bullet casings
In the aftermath of the killing, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that investigators found inscriptions engraved on the bullet casings found with the gun found at the scene of the crime, and on a spent casing from the bullet that was fired. All of the inscriptions referenced obscure memes and language common to online gamer culture. While they gave no clear indication of a political affiliation, they did reveal that Robinson was a person who spent a lot of time online.
Even the engravings with ostensibly political meanings may not be so clear-cut. On…
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