It’s been almost a week since the cold-blooded slaying of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, but the shocking nature of his assassination has meant that it has continued to dominate headlines.
As is often the case with a story of such magnitude – in others words one that commands worldwide attention from the get go – there are no end of angles, mysteries, misinformation and downright lies to address.
That Kirk was murdered as he gave a talk at Utah Valley University on September 10 is undeniable. The 31-year-old’s tragic demise was caught on camera by any number of cellphones, held by members of a gathered audience thought to be around 3,000 people strong. Footage from said cellphones rapidly made its way onto social media, where it was passed from user to user, eventually achieving viral status.
Even with the world watching, though, it took authorities over 30 hours and the help of a father living his most nightmarish scenario for the suspect – 22-year-old Tyler Robinson – to finally be taken into custody.
During the time between the fateful bullet being fired and Robinson being apprehended, there were thousands of questions being asked, including where the shot had come from, how Kirk could have been so utterly unprepared for such a violent eventuality (particularly given how many enemies his outspoken brand of politics seemed to create), and how many people might have been involved in the plot to take his life.
Any and all questions will hopefully be answered in the coming hours, days, weeks, months, even if Utah Governor Spencer Cox revealed at the weekend that Robinson, the primary suspect in the shooting, is not cooperating with authorities.
Indeed, more information is already coming to light, painting a clearer picture of the circumstances and evidence relating to what – at least from a public standpoint – is an increasingly convoluted case.
Arguably the biggest turning point in the hunt for the suspect came when authorities tracked a man jumping down from a rooftop of Utah Valley University’s campus. They followed said individual’s movements and were able to relocate a bolt action rifle and ammunition in a nearby wooded area.
A day after the incident, investigators revealed that the bullet casings had messages written on them, including, ‘hey fascist’, ‘oh Bella caio, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao’, and, ‘if you read this you are gay lmao’.
Another read ‘Notices bulge OwO what’s this?’. It was this bullet that appeared to confuse members of the public the most.
It’s now reported that the somewhat cryptic text refers to a meme from 2015, poking fun at the ‘furry community’ and roleplay culture.
“The term furry describes a diverse community of fans, artists, writers, gamers, and role players,” FurScience explain.
“Most furries create for themselves an anthropomorphized animal character (fursona) with whom they identify and can function as an avatar within the community.”
In the 2015 meme in question, two men are sat at separate computers chatting to one another — one of whom has cat ears on.
The guy with cat ears writes: “hehe your a cutie x3 *flops besides you and nuzzles*.”
The other man replies: “nuzzles u back and pounces on u and notices your buldge ‘OwO what’s this..?”
Utah’s Governor Cox also made a connection between Robinson and gaming, telling NBC: “Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on.
“Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.”
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