I watched some of this morning’s press conference about the arrest of the person alleged to have shot and killed Charlie Kirk. The Gov. of Utah spoke early and listening to him describe ‘writings’ on shell casings apparently recovered with the murder weapon my reaction was ‘that’s an awful lot to put on even a .50 caliber sniper round. It turns out the alleged murder weapon is a Mauser 30-06 caliber bolt action hunting rifle. The rounds are a lot smaller than .50 cal!
Let’s deal with a few facts. You can’t take a pencil or pen and write on a brass shell casing. Even a marker like a fine point sharpie won’t do the trick. Any lettering has to be stamped or etched/engraved. Using standard engraving equipment and/or techniques risks weakening the casing which could cause it to rupture when fired. That makes for a “bad day” for a shooter. People can and sometimes do etch things into shell casings. Manufacturers of course will stamp the caliber and usually something identifying them into the thicker rim of the base.
That brings us to the first myth that went viral with RWNJ types. “HE MARKED THE BULLETS SHOWING HE WAS TRANS!” Yes, the rounds recovered had TRN stamped into them, as they were made by the Turkish company Turan Ammunition. They use the letters TRN to ‘brand’ their ammo. So that’s how to deal with THAT nonsense from right-wing crazies.
As for other things said to have been engraved on the spent casing and other rounds found with it we need to look a little more. First, for someone who so meticulously planned and carried out the murder I find it startling he didn’t “police his brass” as in pocketing both the spent casing and any others that were in the weapon during the shooting. Leaving the rifle behind? I get that. It was a calculated choice, ditching it in some woods. He knew it would probably be found but the less time he might be seen on some security camera carrying it the better his odds of a clean getaway. Given it took his own relatives to ID him and turn him in it seems to have been the right choice.
Leaving those shells behind seems pretty boneheaded though. If he WANTED to get caught then maybe, but it looks to me like he hoped to get away. Regardless, we are told all of the shell casings had ‘writing’ on them. Or as would later be noted etchings. Take a look at the title picture. I tried like hell to find an image of actual size 30-06 rounds, taken with something that would easily show their actual size. It’s almost like the internet got scrubbed of such things. But the title pic shows several 30-06 rounds (the actual bullet part comes in varied sizes/weights) in a man’s hand. It’s oversized even before being blown up to title pic size but take look at the man’s fingers.
As you can see a 30-06 round is a little smaller than a man’s little finger both in length and diameter. From this article by Newsweek this is what is said to have been etched on the casings, keeping in mind the shape of the casing and how it suddenly narrows in diameter cutting the amount of room:
Cox outlined some of the messages investigators had found on the shell casings linked to the shooting, including one which read: “Hey fascist! Catch!”, followed by an up arrow symbol, a right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols.
I never got into computer gaming but apparently it’s a reference to the videogame Helldiver 2. Some futuristic Planet Earth where everyone lives under ‘managed democracy.’ Newsweek says it’s a tongue-in-cheek critiques of military dictatorships with references to fascism and colonialism. Whatever. My point is that that is a LOT to etch in a single line on the part of a 30-06 shell casing before it narrows down. I’m sure it could be done if someone was willing to put in a LOT of effort to get the letters and symbols small enough. But I wonder.
Now, the other phrases on other rounds can I suppose be broken up into separate lines. In other words you read part, then turn the casing to read the next part. But still we are talking about a LOT of work to etch letters small enough:
Other messages included, “Notices, bulges, OwO what’s this?” an apparent reference to an internet meme connected with furries, part of the role-playing community.
The meme, poking fun at the community, originated in around 2013. The “OwO” refers to an emoji used by furries online as a cutesy symbol.
Another message on the casings read: “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.”
From where I sit those messages are a sort of Rorschach Test. What they mean is in the eye of the beholder and when you add in trying to figure THAT out you’re trying to figure out what they mean to someone else you’re on thin-ice. But again I’m talking about the time and effort to etch lettering small enough into those casings. Yes, it can be done but until I know a helluva lot more about the alleged shooter I’ll withhold judgement. Still, it’s the last one that really has me wondering if Patel and Bongino decided to f**k with the evidence to paint a misleading picture:
Another casing read, “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao.”
“Bella Ciao” is an Italian song dedicated to resistance fighters during the Second World War, who were fighting against the occupying Nazi forces.
In recent history, union members in Italy sung the song at conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as she spoke at a conference in March 2023. Her party, the Brothers of Italy, was founded by followers of former dictator Benito Mussolini as a post-fascist movement following WWII.
I don’t want to focus on what, assuming the assassin intended to convey. I want to focus on how much freaking work it would take to fit all that on a 30-06 shell casing! Add that in with all the others and damn, that is some serious effort. If the dude wanted to convey some type of political message he had much easier ways at his disposal including leaving a sealed envelope in a plastic baggie taped to the weapon. Or a flash drive.
On the other hand, and realizing I’m diving into the CT pond if Patel wanted to create a narrative for MAGA to run with he had resources at his disposal that could have produced rounds including a spent casing with all that stuff etched into them. I’d love to see actual photos of this evidence that was described but that will be a long time coming. If I were prosecuting the case I would fight like hell to keep those photos from getting out until trial so as not to contaminate the jury pool. THAT also makes me wonder.
We only know what was etched on to those bullets because that’s what Patel’s FBI folks told the Gov. and others. While I’m at it let me really get your brain into ‘question everything the govt. says’ mode: Unless I missed it there’s been no mention of the rifle alleged to be the murder weapon having been matched to a recovered from the crime seen bullet! The bullet might have passed through Kirk’s next and struck something hard enough to deform it. If so then this becomes a circumstantial case.
A good defense lawyer would fight like hell to exclude the rifle and any ammunition ‘recovered’ with it. Who knows? It might even work. Given the lack of details even this evening about how the shooter acquired the rifle I’m not ready to assume what the Gov. of Utah said when he started his remarks with “We got him.” To be honest I think it’s likely they did, but when this gets to court I can see it getting murky and fast.
Well, it’s late and I’ve not been watching news this evening. Just a TV movie and periodically checking my news feed for breaking news. It could be tomorrow I’ll look like a fool for posting this. Then again it could be issues I’ve raised start getting discussed and who knows? Stay tuned folks because this might be far from over.
Luigi etched his ammo too
A 30-06 casing is just short of 2.5″ long and 1/2″ in diameter. That writing would have to be in very small fonts.
My point exactly. Not to mention how the 1/2 inch part ‘necks down’ to the diameter of the actual bullet. Absent laser etching equipment it would take an incredible amount of effort to etch (scratch) all that stuff, especially that Italian song reference into a casing. Yes, it could be done but damn. I can’t help but wonder if what was announced is bullshit and that Patel will find some RWNJ with access to the equipment that could do such tiny etching before any photos of the shells/casings are taken.