New information has surfaced in the federal investigation into the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk that includes a potentially unexpected link to Helldivers 2. Bullets left behind near the crime scene had markings on them, according to information shared at a news conference on Friday morning by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, one of which included symbols that line up with a military Stratagem from last year’s hit sci-fi extraction game.
Investigators said Discord messages from the suspected shooter led them to believe he had engraved the writings on bullets he used to kill Kirk at a Utah Valley University event earlier this week. A bolt-action rifle with a scope was recovered from a wooded area near the school 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 read this, you are gay LMAO.” pic.twitter.com/9gow1IhynD
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) September 12, 2025
One of the casings reportedly had the words “Hey fascists! Catch!” on it alongside an up arrow, right arrow, and three down arrows.
While that last part might seem meaningless to most people, Helldivers 2 players immediately understood it to be a reference to the Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem which requires players to input those button presses on their keyboard or their controller’s d-pad in order to call down a giant payload that explodes moments later.
⇧⇨⇩⇩⇩ (Up, Right, Down, Down, Down) is an orbital stratagem code from the game Helldivers II. It calls in an Eagle airstrike that drops a 500K bomb — the most destructive piece of single ordinance in the game. https://t.co/GzMvH9Dxrj pic.twitter.com/7M2nfvQFGJ
— Steve Skojec (@SteveSkojec) September 12, 2025
It’s not yet clear if the suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, who was recently arrested in connection with the assassination, meant for the engraving to be connected to Helldivers 2 or what significance that reference would have had in connection with the crime.
What is Helldivers 2?
Helldivers 2 was made by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony for PlayStation 5 and PC early last year, instantly becoming one of 2025’s most popular games after selling over 10 million copies. The multiplayer shooter has players step into the shoes of space marines as they battle alien threats across the galaxy as a parody of sci-fi fascism in the vein of Starship Troopers.
Helldivers 2 came to Xbox Series X/S just last month and has continued to be one of the most played games on PC and console in part due to constantly-evolving in-game storytelling and a robust social community of dedicated players. Players team up, go down to random planet surfaces, complete mini-objective while dodging waves of hostile aliens, and repeatedly die in often absurd ways thanks to the game’s complex ragdoll physics.
Players have been flooding the game’s Discord today following the press conference sharing their shock and disgust, as well as debating whether Arrowhead Game Studios should make a statement addressing the situation. Robinson’s name has already been banned from the Helldivers 2 Discord servers so that any attempt to mention the suspected shooter by name is automatically filtered out.
“Weird day to be a Helldivers mod”
On the game’s subreddits, which include over 1.5 million members, fans have been trying to process the news. “Not for nothing, but it’s gonna be weird to have one of these tattoos,” one player wrote in a thread referencing a past photo shared by someone over a year ago with a tattoo of the same Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem reportedly referenced on Robinson’s bullets. “Don’t let some delusional person take what’s ours,” wrote another.
“Community is necessary because of events like this,” wrote one of the subreddit’s moderators. “If we as people spent more time learning about each other and overcoming our differences instead of bickering we might actually achieve equity and not just equality. As Helldivers it’s our responsibility to keep those we love and are sworn to protect safe from outside evils. Sometimes those evils exist within our own society.”
Politicians have long tried to link gun violence with video games, including President Donald Trump. Earlier this week, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his department was looking into any potential links between gaming and increases in school shootings. The U.S. suffers from exponentially more school shootings than other countries, despite having the same number of video games.
Update 9/12/2025 12:53 p.m. ET: Added more reactions from Helldivers 2 players.
