After the suspected shooter has been detained, the FBI held a press conference to report on the case and announce the next steps going forward. Spoiler: we, as leftists, are fucked.
Key points:
- The shooter is Tyler Robinson of Utah.
- His friend reported him to the FBI.
- Tyler's Discord messages have been used as evidence, as provided by his roommate.
- ~~Robinson has been reported to be getting increasingly political, and during dinner one day, he spoke about how Kirk was "full of hate".~~ UPDATE 4: Tyler did not say that.
- The casings do not contain any trans references. But they do have anti-fascist rhetoric (bella ciao and "notices bulges OwO" included) and symbols engraved in them.
- Tyler was taken into custody on September 11th, 10 PM local time.
- The investigation is still ongoing.
- One guy cried while speaking.
- Thousands of more leads of potential accomplices are being followed.
- No other arrests are known
- Tyler drove to campus on a car.
- It's not known if Tyler is mentally ill.
- The charging documents will be filed 3 days from now (September 16), then a preliminary hearing will take place.
(Added by LangleyDominos)
- Patel awkwardly trying to signal the Norse viking larp shit. "Charlie, I'll see you in Valhalla"
- Utah Governor Cox told everyone to log off and stop consuming rage bait, called social media a cancer, and that everyone should "touch grass" (his actual words).
UPDATES
- ~~UPDATE 1: Tyler apparently donated to TRUMP??? WHAT~~
- UPDATE 2: ignore update 1
- UPDATE 3: new link to donations check (POTENTIALLY MISLEADING!!!)
Tyler Robinson's mugshot
Other sources:
Okay maybe I'm showing my ass here, who the fuck are the groups marketing themselves as antifa at this point? I haven't heard that, the abbreviation form, since like 2016. Do we mean anyone that says they're anti-fascist?
Yeah it's probably going to be groups that say they're anti-fascist more than a group with antifa in the title. Plus the FBI will rely on connections through memes and symbols. Some DSA uses the same rose symbol found among some antifa group from 2016? They're antifa.
One of the things that happened during Trump 1 was to defund and move federal LE away from tracking white supremacist and terrorist groups. That's another reason why right wing shooters keep popping up. All those spooky bad guys from 2016 in the pacific north west don't have a bell on their collar anymore. Part of Trump 2 is going to be replacing those groups in fed culture with "leftist" groups. They want antifa to have the same connotations as atomwaffen. They want to do "pepe the frog is a nazi dogwhistle" but for the left.
Oh, god. If the "socialist rose" has ever been used by Western anti-fascists, a bunch of demsocs are so, so, screwed. That symbol's like, known among the left for being used by folks who call themselves socialists but don't actually want socialism and think Leninism doesn't work. I.e, most of the American "left". You people are fucked. Never been more glad to not be American than I am right now.
Some Wobbly (IWW) branches still have a GDC (general defense committee). If that counts. But because of how autonomous IWW branches can be that doesn't mean a lot. My local branch had 2 people in their GDC and they didn't do antifa stuff.
In terms of like groups who are anti fascist and do black block? That's kind of a thing still but it seems like people nowadays are more comfortable doing protest without masking up. "Antifa" in the public consciousness started to specifically mean shadowy figures in hoodies and masks who throw bricks. I don't know how often groups do that anymore since it kinda became dangerous to mask up at protests. Made the cops and reactionaries clock you as an open target to harass and/or assault.