American shootings have put a weird spin on the old tradition of writing on messages on munitions: Recent suspects have begun scrawling memes, slogans, or in-group codewords on shell casings.

On Wednesday, after a sniper opened fire on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas, investigators found an unfired shell casing with “ANTI-ICE” written on it. Before too long, the FBI chief Kash Patel posted a photo of the bullets to social media.

Just two weeks earlier, at the scene of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, authorities in Utah recovered spent rifle cartridges etched with internet references like “Notices bulges OwO what’s this?”; a sequence of arrows used to drop a bomb in the video game “Helldivers 2”; the anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao”; and “If you Read This, You Are GAY lmao.”

The messages-on-casings approach echo a similar assassination in December 2024, when Luigi Mangione allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in the middle of New York City. Investigators later revealed that his spent shells were engraved with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” — an apparent critique of the insurance giant that gave rise to spiraling conspiracies about Mangione’s own political inclinations. Other killers seem to have taken note.

At first glance these inscriptions may seem to hint at ideology — perhaps in Mangione’s case they did — but experts warn they can be something else entirely: a twisted performance for the internet age.

It’s too early to say if these shootings have ideological motives, but in the rush to judge, the media keeps choosing to interpret these messages not as memes but as coherent political manifestos.

Usually, the media shies away from publishing manifestos. In this warped arena of memetic warfare, however, the press often plays along with the shooters’ messaging, treating each slogan like a puzzle piece in some ideological scavenger hunt. In doing so, the killer’s viral power beyond is magnified the act itself.

Aiming for Viral

Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the Kirk shooting, admitted that he was, to borrow a phrase, in it for the lolz. Prosecutors report Robinson texted his roommate: “Remember........

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