"On Friday, Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah native, was identified by federal law enforcement as a suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk. During Friday's press conference, officials said that several bullet casings recovered from a hunting rifle found near the crime scene had messages inscribed on them. During the press conference, officials appeared to take the inscriptions literally, to the extent they ascribed meaning to them at all."
"One of the casings was said to be engraved with the phrase "Hey Fascist! Catch!" followed by an up arrow, a right arrow, and three downward-facing arrows. That sequence is an apparent reference to the "Eagle 500kg bomb" in the popular third-person-shooter game Helldivers 2. The bomb has become a meme in the Helldivers community for being comically excessive."
"Launched in 2024, the game has grown a cult following for its Starship Troopers -like storyline. The cooperative shooter allows teams of up to four players, called "Helldivers," to spread "freedom" across a fictional universe-fighting bugs, robots, and squid-like aliens rather than other humans. Their form of managed democracy is "basically fascism," says independent extremism researcher Harry Batchelor, who works with the Extremism and Gaming Research Network."
Tyler Robinson, 22, was identified by federal law enforcement as a suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk. Several bullet casings recovered from a hunting rifle near the crime scene had messages inscribed on them. Officials at a press conference appeared to interpret those inscriptions literally. The four messages seem to invoke memes and video-game references rather than clear ideological slogans. One casing read "Hey Fascist! Catch!" followed by directional arrows, a sequence referencing the Eagle 500kg bomb meme from Helldivers 2. Helldivers 2 launched in 2024 and portrays a satirical, militarized democracy; its community largely treats the setting as a joke.
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