Report Details Messages Suspected Sho…
Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter’s Discord chat has now become a focal part of the FBI’s investigation.
On Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed that the bureau is looking into Tyler Robinson’s Discord messages, where he allegedly shared his plans to shoot Kirk. Patel said they will be “investigating anyone and everyone involved in that Discord Chat,” which appears to include over 20 users who were Robinson’s friends, per The Hill.
Patel’s comments arrived after The Washington Post reported that Robinson appeared to confess to fatally shooting Kirk in the Discord chat just hours before he was arrested.
“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” Robinson reportedly wrote. “It was me at [Utah Valley University] yesterday. I’m sorry for all of this.”
Journalist Ken Klippenstein did a deep dive into the 22-year-old’s Discord messages, speaking with one of his childhood friends who painted a much different picture than what is being portrayed in the media, and by authorities and politicians.
It seems that Robinson’s friends in the Discord chat held varying political views. It appears Robinson, himself, was neither a leftist nor a Groyper, but he was, as Klippenstein writes on his website, a “fairly typical” young man from Utah, who “loved the outdoors, was a gamer, and into guns.”
Klippenstein obtained access to the Discord, which he writes was confirmation that Robinson “wasn’t some political martyr.” While sifting through the messages, Klippenstein only found one hit each for Joe Biden and Donald Trump, with the former a reference to the 2020 election, and the latter to the 2019 impeachment inquiry.
“Even the goodbye message he sent in one of our servers [where Discord chats are hosted] was so hard to believe, we all just thought, what a weird joke to make … then the news came out and we all were calling each other saying check the news,” Robinson’s childhood friend—who remained anonymous—told Klippenstein.
“Yeah, I don’t know what makes a person like him decide he’s going to drive 260 miles upstate to shoot someone like Charlie Kirk, then come back like nothing happened. It leaves a lot of room for speculation and theories, which is why I think they’re so rampant,” the friend added.
Klippenstein also addressed Robinson’s relationship with a trans person, which the right has used as a means to label Robinson as leftist. According to his friend, Robinson was “okay with gay and trans people having a right to exist, but also believes in the Second Amendment.”
Messages allegedly found on the bullet casings have been another focal point in the investigation. The phrases include, “Hey fascist, catch,” “If you read this you are gay LMAO,” “Notices bulges OwO what’s this?”, and “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao.”
There has been much speculation about what they mean, and “Hey fascist, catch!” has particularly puzzled people. According to Klippensein, the phrase refers to the Helldivers 2 video game.
What really seems to be happening is that Robinson’s purported ideologies don’t fall neatly within either political party’s camp. Still, the media, the Democrats, and Republicans are finding ways to project ideologies onto Robinson.
Over the weekend, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told the Wall Street Journal that Robinson is “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” while noting that his partner was in the midst of transitioning.
Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro pushed back against speculation that Robinson is a Fuentes disciple, which many have thought is the case, given the bullet casings.
Some also point to Robinson’s 2018 Halloween costume, where he dressed as a Gopnik—a stereotypical lower-class Russian or Slavic man who frequently wears tracksuits—as proof of his devotion to Fuentes. Both a Groyper and a Gopnik are variations of Pepe the Frog, which has helped to deepen the connection between Robinson and Groypers.
Fuentes also slammed the mainstream media for framing him and his followers for Kirk’s death with “literally zero evidence.”