This is not about Charlie Kirk. He was admirable as a debater and as a conservative who welcomed debate. Some of his utterances were reprehensible, but no one should die because of opinions.

This is about the 22-year-old who apparently shot and killed Kirk from a rooftop — and also the 20-year-old who shot at Donald Trump during a Pennsylvania rally, grazing his face. Both snipers worked from a rooftop.

Neither was especially political. Kirk’s apparent killer, Tyler Robinson, was not allied with any party and didn’t vote. And the young man who tried to execute Trump, Thomas Crooks, was a registered Republican. Both came from conservative families nested in MAGAland.

The more sophisticated takes of Robinson’s motives veer away from political passions. Many Gen Z men like him have sunk into the shadowy vortex of social media. Their online life had become separate from what we would call real life. They parade their cleverness before an internet audience of who-knows-who. Both lived on and off with their parents; they hadn’t really launched.

One thing deepened the public’s motive mystery before either perpetrator was named. Both were obviously sharpshooters, products of a gun culture. As noted, both placed themselves on roofs a good distance from a political rally. A sniper firing from a rooftop is an archetypal scene in our culture. The shooter represents the power from above, unseen and controlling.

If politics aren’t the poison motivating this gun violence at political rallies, what is? Consider this possibility: These post-adolescents were making few waves outside their parents’ homes. They may have wanted to prove to their online society that they can pull off world-changing capers.

A scouring of Robinson’s social media shows that he was an avid member of a group on Discord, a platform that lets users hide their identity. Robinson may have yearned to show his audience that he could pull off a daring military-style action. But first it was playtime with his online squad, a means to maintain control.

Listen to Robinson’s coy talk with a friend who said that the suspect shown in the FBI pictures looked like him. No, Robinson quipped. The guy who looked like him was a doppelganger (his double). He continued messing with the group. When another user proposed that the group turn Robinson in and get the $100,000 the FBI was offering, Robinson responded, “Only if I get a cut.”

Then he jokes: “I’m actually Charlie Kirk, wanted to get outta politics so I faked my death.”

After Robinson was caught, one of his “pals” on Discord made light of his possible execution: “Our governor wants to give him the death penalty dude.” People aren’t real, not even their friends.

This is showing off, not political scheming.

Crooks, who took a shot at Trump in Pennsylvania, had not written a manifesto. The FBI found links to extremist groups. No one has ever figured out his motive.

Could his goal have been fulfilling a fantasy to see whether he could pull it off? The FBI found that Crooks did online research about how far sniper Lee Harvey Oswald was when he assassinated John F. Kennedy in 1963. And he searched for information on campaign events for Joe Biden as well as Trump. Perhaps it didn’t matter to him which presidential candidate he targeted. It was as though either one would do.

The frightening part of all this is that there are a lot of similar boy-men out there who are out of sight and whose minds are similarly scrambled. That many have gotten good grades and lack a criminal history puts them out of law enforcement’s surveillance. Scary times.

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM