I’m creating this thread for updates into the investigation on Charlie Kirk’s murder, the identification or ongoing investigation into the shooter, and other direct reporting on such. I and several other posters I’m sure want to avoid the seemingly inevitable assumptions of political agenda, justifiability and the like, so in addition to documenting this as Breaking News, I am asking here in the OP to avoid such political jabs and debates. We have several debate, P&E, and Pit threads for all of those. Again, for those who want to have a single source of news or reasonably reputable reporting.
I’ll include a CBS summary of what we know as of this morning:
A couple of key points from above, at least one I hadn’t seen mentioned in the other threads:
Utah Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said the suspect was a male who “blended in” with the college community and appears to be "college-age.
FBI special-agent-in-charge Robert Bohls said Thursday that investigators recovered a “high-powered, bolt-action rifle,” which they believe was the weapon used in the assassination. It was found in a wooded area where the shooter fled and will be analyzed by the FBI, according to Bohls.
The article also has imagery of the supposed shooter and indicates they have substantial video of the suspect, as well as impressions of the shoe treads, palm and forearm impressions from the shooter.
Again, No Political Jabs or political speculation until we have reportable news.
His listed address in the probable cause statement is the six-bedroom home of his parents, who own a granite countertop business and are registered to vote as Republicans.
-snip-
Cox said ammunition found at the scene had engravings that reference meme culture and referred to fascism.
So (according to this article and others), the suspect is a young male resident of Utah with an average suburban upbringing, not registered with either political party, with no criminal history, from a family of Republicans, who apparently fell off the wagon and somehow became an anti-fascist, and didn’t like what Kirk said. It will be interesting to see if anything more comes out about motive.
A bit of Google-fu had this as the first link. They appear to be a legitimate charity; I may send them a small donation.
Someone on another site said that his mother had, in recent years, bragged about his gun proficiency on social media. Yet another example of “Nothing on the Internet ever goes away” if that’s true, just like all the RWNJers blaming this on the “left.”
I still would caution about calling him anti-fascist. Mainly for three reasons: One, he could still be a groyper instead which would put him well on the far right. Two, the term fascist has been pretty well diluted by overuse by both sides, especially on the internet, to be a general attack aimed at anyone the speaker doesn’t like. And three, the only clear fascist reference is also a Helldivers II reference, and everything else the guy wrote is basically shitposting.
We can judge the likelihood of this being true by the degree to which right-wing voices have transitioned from ‘we are now at war with the Libruls’ to ‘this is a case of mental illness.’
The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has reignited attention on a long-simmering feud within elements of the far right, particularly between Kirk and the so-called “Groyper” movement led by white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
I realize this is the breaking-news thread, but news about the shooter’s views IS breaking fast (even if some of it is speculation).
That’s a pretty useless statement. Anything that gets referenced is by definition part of “meme culture”, and “referring to fascism” could go either way.