'Hey fascist! Catch!': Inscribing bullets, guns may be part of killing ritual, expert says

A handful of recent shootings in the United States have had a common thread: the bullets, casings and weapons have acted as a vehicle for written messages.

On Sept. 24, a person being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas was killed and others were injured. The shooter, who fired off multiple rounds at the facility, allegedly inscribed the words “ANTI ICE” onto an unspent bullet casing, according to FBI Director Kash Patel . The suspect was identified by authorities as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn . He died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“It might be all part of the process this person is using to get themselves to that point where they can actually complete the act,” Steve Joordens told National Post, offering some insight into the possible mindset of a killer. Joordens is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

He said the etching of the bullets could be key to a person’s ability to follow through. It can be part of a ritual used to “steel the person for violence,” he said. He compared it to other pre-battle rituals, like war paint, used throughout history.

Messages being inscribed on weapons is not a new phenomenon. The Greeks and Romans used to cast taunts when they fired off sling bullets , ancient projectiles thrown from a cord, said Joordens. There is a lead sling bullet in the British Museum that has the Greek word for “Catch” written on it. It dates back to the fifth century.

But in the age of being chronically online amid ongoing political unrest in the United States, the method is being “repurposed.”

In general, messages can be used to “broadcast ideology, seek online fame and to psychologically amplify the act of violence,” explained Joordens.

It’s easy for a person to feel like their aggression is justified, especially in the U.S., where “everything is so polarized.”

“It’s almost becoming this war of words,” said Joordens. “These words seem to be progressing to physical actions, to violent actions, and that is a little scary.”

People who should be trying to quell violence are “fanning the flames,” making violence “almost inevitable,” he said, adding that it could “sneak into Canada, too.”

“It feels like we’re not nearly as far down this road of division and mutual hatred as they are there (in the U.S.). But we have it,” said Joordens.

In Utah, where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10, the ammunition of a rifle that police believe belonged to suspect Tyler James Robinson , 22, was etched with anti-fascist messages and words borrowed from internet meme culture.

The messages are a way to make murder more personal, and also to draw attention to the killing, especially in the age of social media, where “likes” and “shares” are currency. “So much is about getting that social media reaction,” said Joordens, and those details — such as putting a word on a bullet — can ensure a story lives on.

In late August, when two children were killed in a church shooting in Minnesota, suspect Robin Westman, 23, had allegedly inscribed weapons with antisemitic and anti-Trump phrases, such as “Kill Donald Trump,” per the Jerusalem Post and CNN . Westman died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound .

In the aftermath of such shootings, Joordens said he often hears about the state of the killer’s mental health. But he said that “social health” could play a larger role.

“Virtually every one of these individuals has become socially ostracized at some point, and that’s what fuels their ability to kill another human being. You have to reach a point where you really don’t care about the lives,” he said, “and then often they’re getting their social interaction through social media.”

Putting a message on a device intended to be used to murder a person is also a way of showing the world that the killer is “not just being aggressive out of nowhere,” in their mind, said Joordens. Whether it’s the “ANTI ICE” message or “Hey, fascist! Catch!” (which was etched into ammunition that police linked to Robinson), it’s supposed to be a reminder that the target was a “bad person doing evil things,” he said.

In December 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in midtown Manhattan.

Suspect Luigi Mangione , who has been charged with murder, allegedly wrote “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” on shell casings . Authorities are looking into how the words could offer up a motive for the killing. Although Mangione has yet to face trial, some reports have chalked it up to Mangione allegedly taking a jab at the health-care industry .

The public’s fascination with finding out a killer’s motive is what often drives coverage of such crimes, said Joordens. People are naturally drawn to something they don’t fully understand. “Our brain wants it to make sense, and so if you’re on that quest for immortality… leaving questions in people’s minds is the best way to keep people thinking, and that’s probably what they’re after,” he said, adding that it might be a subconscious choice and not sophisticated or deliberate.

“The words are so nasty,” he said. “They have that ability to carry the message after the act, which seems really gruesome.”

• Who is Tyler Robinson? What we know about the man who allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk
• Suspect in deadly Minneapolis school shooting had ‘kill Donald Trump’ written on weapon in video: police

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