Authorities investigating the assassination of Charlie Kirk revealed new evidence Friday, including shell casings engraved with messages such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R.) said the markings show a clear motive. “As for Robinson’s motive, the ‘Hey fascist!’ engraving speaks for itself,” Cox told reporters.
But on MSNBC, reporter Brandy Zadrozny suggested the slogans may not reflect the suspect’s politics at all. She speculated that Tyler Robinson “could have been trying to set up another ideological enemy for the shooting,” calling the engravings “impossible” to interpret. Criminologist Casey Jordan echoed the claim, dismissing the messages as “the rantings of a really immature child.”
Other evidence points in a different direction. Another shell casing was scrawled with lyrics from an Italian anti-fascist folk song. Robinson’s political leanings were also clear to those who knew him. A high school friend told the Guardian he was “pretty left on everything” and “the only member of his family that was really leftist.”
The rhetoric etched into Robinson’s ammunition echoes years of Democrats labeling conservatives as fascists. In 2022, Joe Biden called Donald Trump’s movement “semi-fascism,” while Kamala Harris branded Trump a “fascist” weeks before the 2024 election.
MSNBC contributor Matthew Dowd went further after Kirk’s death, declaring, “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.” He was later fired for the remarks.
Utah officials said Robinson confessed to his father before his arrest. The state will seek the death penalty.
