Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, left some 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.
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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 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 one of the bullets were the words: “Hey fascist! CATCH! (up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols),” Cox said.
Those words, though, are likely a reference to a sequence of moves on a controller that unleashes a powerful bomb and accompanying phrase in a third-person shooter video game called Helldivers 2. The Helldivers subreddit has since been temporarily locked in the aftermath of the shooting.
Read more: Gabby Giffords: I Mourn for Charlie Kirk’s Family
Another message, inscribed on a separate bullet, “Notices bulges OwO what’s this?” is often used as an insult in online role-playing communities. Another read: “If you read This, you are GAY Lmao”—humor that is also common to online male-dominated communities.
Another featured the words to the Italian antifascist anthem “Bella Ciao”. But the song has since been used in the popular Netflix show “Money Heist,” and in the first-person shooter game Far Cry 6.
Activists and lawmakers have pored over these messages in search of meaning and motive.
The antifascist connotations of Bella Ciao led some to believe Robinson may have been a leftist, but members of Robinson’s family have said the entire family is MAGA supporters, and the link to the gaming community suggests it may not be that simple.
Some have attempted to draw a link between Robinson and the far-right Groyper movement, a decentralized group of white nationalists who organize online and coalesce around obscure and extremist meme culture. The movement had been at odds with Kirk’s brand of conservatism for some time. Online sleuths noted that a Halloween costume worn by Robinson closely resembled a Groyer mascot, and that the Bella Ciao song appeared on a recent public Groyper playlist. But experts on the group have downplayed the evidence so far.
Professor Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism at Boston University and an expert in extremism who has written a book about meme culture, said Robinson appeared to have “relied heavily on memes to express his own personality.”
“There is nothing expressively conclusive about his participation in specific online groups as of now. His social media and posting histories are not available. But these memes tend to be posted on more politically incorrect anonymous message boards and gamer chat apps,” she told TIME.
The ambiguity is the point, she added.
“What memes say about people can be complicated, but they can illustrate what someone finds to be funny or signal their affiliation with certain online subcultures,” Professor Donovan said.
“In the set of engravings, he referenced some more ambiguous symbols and a clearly homophobic joke. The ambiguity is a crucial element of memes because not everyone is in on the reference or knows its origins,” she added.
‘More political’
Robinson’s background offers no real answers, either. He grew up in a conservative Utah community and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a young age, according to a church spokesperson, although it’s unclear if he still attended services.
He appeared to be a gifted student: A video posted to a family member’s social media account shows him reading his acceptance letter to Utah State University on a prestigious academic scholarship. But he only attended for one semester, according to the Utah Board of Higher Education. At the time of the shooting, he was a third-year engineering apprentice at Dixie Technical College.
According to the Washington County Clerk, although Robinson’s parents are registered Republicans, he is not affiliated with either party and has not voted in the last two elections.
Robinson did have an affinity for guns. Social media posts from his family show years of him shooting and posing with various weapons at gun ranges and shows alongside his siblings.
According to Utah Governor Cox, Robinson had reportedly “become more political in recent years.” Cox referenced a specific conversation with a family member in which Robinson spoke about Kirk’s visit to Utah Valley University.
“The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10, and in the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” Cox said. He added that Robinson had said Kirk was “full of hate” and “spreading hate.”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, Cox indicated that further investigation was leading authorities to believe that Robinson held ideologically opposing views to Kirk.
“It’s very clear to us and to the investigators that this was a person who was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” Cox said in the interview, without providing any further details.
That would stand in contrast with Robinson’s family. They have yet to make a formal statement to the media, but authorities said it was Tyler’s father, Matt Robinson, who convinced him to turn himself in.
Tyler’s grandmother, Debbie Robinson, 69, told the Daily Mail on Friday that the 48-year-old father is a Trump supporter.
“My son, his dad, is a Republican for Trump,” she told the outlet. “Most of my family members are Republican. I don’t know any single one who’s a Democrat.”
“I’m just so confused,” Debbie said of her grandson’s arrest. “[Tyler] is the shyest person,” she said. “He has never, ever spoke politics to me at all.”
A crackdown on the left
What investigators conclude about Robinson’s motivations may have far-reaching consequences beyond his own criminal case. In the aftermath of the killing, many Republicans and conservative commentators called for a sweeping crackdown on leftwing groups—assuming that the perpetrator would likely be someone from the opposite side of the political spectrum as Kirk.
If proven to be true, those calls will likely grow louder.
President Donald Trump and his officials have promised grave consequences for the “radical left,” which he claimed was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
Read more: ‘This Is War’: Trump and Others on Right Call for Crackdown on Left After Charlie Kirk’s Murder
“My Administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country,” he said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said on Friday that the Trump Administration planned to launch a crackdown on “radical left organizations” that he also blamed for Kirk’s killing.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, I don’t care how – it could be a RICO charge, a conspiracy charge, insurrection – but we are going to do what it takes to dismantle the organizations and the entities that are fomenting riots, that are doxxing, that are trying to inspire terrorism, that are committing acts of violence; it has to stop!,” Miller said.
“My message is, to all of the domestic terrorists in this country spreading this evil hate, you want us to live in fear? We will not live in fear, but you will live in exile, because the power of law enforcement under President Trump’s leadership will be used to find you, to take away your money, take away your power. And if you’ve broken the law, to take away your freedom.”