Was the person who shot Charlie Kirk identified as "Samden Hindenburg", a pagan fundamentalist refugee from Ukraine? No, that's not true: A viral post recycled the meme in circulation since 2015 that casts the comedian Sam Hyde as an attacker after mass shootings in the U.S. or abroad. No credible media organization reported that anyone named "Samden Hindenburg" was connected to the events in Minneapolis.
The name appeared in a post on X (archived here) published on September 10, 2025:
BREAKING: Gunmen who allegedly shot Charlie Kirk said to be 'Samden Hindenburg' a pagan fundamentalist refugee from Ukraine.
The post contained following image:
(Image source: photo from post by @SuspectFed on x.com)
The account that posted the claim later added a reply indicating it was a joke (archived here):
"Not funny delete this rn!" mfs when the joke doesn't involve their favourite millionaire celebrity: pic.twitter.com/DfbrBAsK4Z
-- Posts By Feds (@SuspectFed) September 10, 2025
Sam Hyde is the killer
As part of a bizarre internet in-joke, comedian Sam Hyde gets blamed for almost every mass shooting or headline-grabbing assasination that happens, often within minutes of the event. The joke originally started on 4chan and has been perpetuated for years by various troll accounts.
You can read our previous fact checks mentioning his name here.
Other fact checks
Previous cases where Sam Hyde was named as the suspect were also checked by dpa-factchecking, USA Today, Check Your Fact, AFP Fact Check and PolitiFact.
