Overview

Panama Climate Activist Shooting refers to the death of two climate activists in Panama who were blocking the road as part of a climate change protest in early November 2023. The alleged shooter, later identified as American Kenneth Darlington, was reportedly arrested after he got out of his vehicle, engaged the crowd verbally and then fatally shot two of the protestors. News coverage, discussions and memes about the Panama shooting incident began to spread on social media and 4chan shortly after, with some memetic posts sharing similarities to the Boogie2988 Pointing a Gun meme format.

Background

On November 7th, 2023, American lawyer Kenneth Darlington was one of many who were reportedly halted by a roadblock created by a climate activism strike on the Pan-American Highway in Chame, roughly 50 miles west of Panama City.^[5] Video taken of the strike shows Darlington out of his vehicle appearing to argue with the protestors who set up the roadblock, with him physically moving some of the roadblocks from the road. After going back and forth for some time, Darlington then reportedly fired twice, shooting one man holding a flag and another wearing a black T-shirt as the group scatters.^[7]

On November 7th, 2023, the X account @EPA_Images^[1] uploaded the first pictures of the event, adding the context that the roadblock was part of a multi-day climate protest over a mining bill and government contract that would allow a Canadian company to resume extracting copper for the next 20 years (shown below).^[6]

On November 8th, journalist and X user @MarioNawfal^[2] uploaded additional background information and context, as well as a video of the initial confrontation, aftermath and arrest of Darlington. The accompanying video (shown below) received over 250,000 views in one day and garnered numerous comments supporting Darlington for his actions, with many tagging the Just Stop Oil account due to Just Stop Oil having another climate activist stunt performed earlier that week.

🚨JUST IN: MAN ARRESTED AFTER FATALLY SHOOTING 2 CLIMATE ACTIVISTS IN PANAMAAn elderly American, Kenneth Darlington, 77, was arrested in Panama after he was caught on camera walking up to environmental protesters blocking a Panamanian highway and fatally shooting two of them.… pic.twitter.com/noHvvcuIRV

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 9, 2023

According to Panamanian television network TVN,^[8] one of the victims was a teacher named Abdiel Díaz Chávez, who died at the scene, and the other was a teacher named Iván Rodríguez Mendoza, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital. TVN also reported that Darlington was charged with aggravated homicide and illegal possession of firearms.^[8]

Online Reactions

Memes in support of Kenneth Darlington began to appear on November 9th, 2023, after the initial pictures started to circulate online.

For example, on November 9th, Redditor JoeJo1822^[3] uploaded a cropped picture of Darlington as a shell flies past his head, captioning it with what they believe his inner dialogue was at the time. The post, which received over 250 upvotes in 13 hours, of Darlington to the subreddit /r/gunmemes was titled "The Old Man From Panama" as a reference to cowboy Western naming conventions (shown below).

Later that same day, iFunny user semiseriouss^[4] uploaded a Fedposting meme captioned as if they were assuming the role of the shooter and how they would act if an ATF agent appeared at their door, receiving over 20 likes in 12 hours (shown below).

Additional Reactions

Search Interest

External References