New info has surfaced within the federal investigation into the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk that features a doubtlessly sudden hyperlink to Helldivers 2. Bullets left behind close to the crime scene had markings on them, based on info shared at a information convention on Friday morning by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, one in all which included symbols that line up with a army Stratagem from final yr’s hit sci-fi extraction recreation.
Investigators mentioned Discord messages from the suspected shooter led them to imagine he had engraved the writings on bullets he used to kill Kirk at a Utah Valley College occasion earlier this week. A bolt-action rifle with a scope was recovered from a wooded space close to the college on Thursday, with unfired bullets containing engravings on the casings.
🚨Spencer Cox confirms writings on bullet casings and says they included “hey, fascist” and “if you happen to learn this, you’re homosexual LMAO.” pic.twitter.com/9gow1IhynD
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) September 12, 2025
One of many casings reportedly had the phrases “Hey fascists! Catch!” on it alongside an up arrow, proper arrow, and three down arrows.
Whereas that final half may appear meaningless to most individuals, Helldivers 2 gamers instantly understood it to be a reference to the Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem which requires gamers to enter these button presses on their keyboard or their controller’s d-pad with a purpose to name down a large payload that explodes moments later.
⇧⇨⇩⇩⇩ (Up, Proper, Down, Down, Down) is an orbital stratagem code from the sport Helldivers II. It calls in an Eagle airstrike that drops a 500K bomb — essentially the most harmful piece of single ordinance within the recreation. https://t.co/GzMvH9Dxrj pic.twitter.com/7M2nfvQFGJ
— Steve Skojec (@SteveSkojec) September 12, 2025
It’s not but clear if the suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, who was not too long ago arrested in reference to the assassination, meant for the engraving to be linked to Helldivers 2 or what significance that reference would have had in reference to the crime.
What’s Helldivers 2?
Helldivers 2 was made by Arrowhead Sport Studios and printed by Sony for PlayStation 5 and PC early final yr, immediately changing into one in all 2025’s hottest video games after promoting over 10 million copies. The multiplayer shooter has gamers step into the sneakers of house marines as they battle alien threats throughout the galaxy as a parody of sci-fi fascism within the vein of Starship Troopers.
Helldivers 2 got here to Xbox Collection X/S simply final month and has continued to be one of the performed video games on PC and console partly attributable to constantly-evolving in-game storytelling and a sturdy social neighborhood of devoted gamers. Gamers staff up, go all the way down to random planet surfaces, full mini-objective whereas dodging waves of hostile aliens, and repeatedly die in typically absurd methods because of the sport’s advanced ragdoll physics.
Gamers have been flooding the sport’s Discord in the present day following the press convention sharing their shock and disgust, in addition to debating whether or not Arrowhead Sport Studios ought to make a press release addressing the state of affairs. Robinson’s identify has already been banned from the Helldivers 2 Discord servers in order that any try to say the suspected shooter by identify is robotically filtered out.
“Bizarre day to be a Helldivers mod”
On the sport’s subreddits, which embrace over 1.5 million members, followers have been making an attempt to course of the information. “Not for nothing, nevertheless it’s gonna be bizarre to have one in all these tattoos,” one participant wrote in a thread referencing a previous picture shared by somebody over a yr in the past with a tattoo of the identical Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem reportedly referenced on Robinson’s bullets. “Don’t let some delusional individual take what’s ours,” wrote one other.
“Group is important due to occasions like this,” wrote one of many subreddit’s moderators. “If we as individuals spent extra time studying about one another and overcoming our variations as a substitute of bickering we would really obtain fairness and never simply equality. As Helldivers it’s our accountability to maintain these we love and are sworn to guard protected from outdoors evils. Generally these evils exist inside our personal society.”
Politicians have lengthy tried to hyperlink gun violence with video video games, together with President Donald Trump. Earlier this week, well being secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mentioned his division was wanting into any potential hyperlinks between gaming and will increase at school shootings. The U.S. suffers from exponentially more school shootings than different international locations, regardless of having the identical variety of video video games.
Up to date, 9/12/2025 12:53 p.m. ET: Added extra reactions from Helldivers 2 gamers.
