Tanner Watkins' Alleged "Facebook Laugh React" Murder

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Tanner Watkins' Alleged "Facebook Laugh React" Murder refers to 21-year-old Sikeston, Missouri resident Tanner Watkins allegedly shooting and killing 18-year-old Isiah Fitzgerald in April 2023, purportedly because Fitzgerald laugh-reacted to his Facebook photo, which was a selfie of Watkins and his girlfriend Alissa Musgrove. Fellow Missouri resident Kaleb Ramsey was also arrested in connection with the first-degree murder. The social media-related details of the crime and arrest led to memes and reactions on sites like Twitter in May 2023.

History

On April 24th, 2023, Facebook^[1] user Tanner Watkins uploaded a new profile picture which was a selfie of him and his girlfriend. His girlfriend, named Alissa Musgrove, also posted the photo to Facebook^[2] on April 24th, making it her profile pic as well. Tanner Watkins wrote, "It’s war behind this one 🤞🏼💜," in the description and the post gained five reactions and 52,000 shares in nine days (shown below).

Watkins' post received one laugh reaction from Facebook^[3] user Isiah Fitzgerald, who was also from Missouri. Isiah Fitzgerald also left multiple comments in the post's comment section after Watkins tagged him, asking, "Isiah Fitzgerald what’s funny." Fitzgerald initially responded by saying, "Tanner Watkins I be on fb laughin like a mf ion care bout u 🤣," and the two continued to exchange banter over 23 comments (shown below, click to enlarge).

On April 25th, 2023, Missouri local news station WSIL TV published an article titled, "Two arrested for murder in deadly Sikeston shooting,"^[4] that stated two young men, Kaleb Ramsey and Tanner Watkins, were arrested for the alleged first-degree murder of Isiah Fitzgerald after a fatal shooting in Sikeston, Missouri. According to WSIL TV,^[4] a representative of the Sikeston police said that the incident started over an argument on social media, later likened to the Facebook laugh reaction. The association between the police's statement and the social media reaction was first made by Facebook^[6] user Madi's Kitchen.

Online Reactions

As stated, the association between the police's statement and the Facebook laugh react was first made by Facebook^[6] user Madi's Kitchen, who shared a post on April 26th, 2023, that included screenshots of Watkin's Facebook^[1] post, Fitzgerald's comments, as well as a screenshot that purportedly showed Watkins' Snapchat story the day of the incident (shown below, left). Madi's Kitchen's post gained over 240 reactions and 640 shares in one week (shown below, right).

On April 27th, 2023, Watkins' arrest was discussed on Reddit's /r/crime^[7] subreddit, as well as on /r/UnsolvedMurders.^[8] On May 2nd, the website Standard Democrat^[5] published an obituary for Isiah Fitzgerald. Later on May 2nd, Twitter^[9] user @TheEbonyMaw tweeted about the arrest, including screenshots of Watkins' mugshot, the obituary and the original Facebook post. @TheEbonyMaw's tweet gained roughly 36,400 likes in one day (shown below).

Inspired by @TheEbonyMaw's tweet, various memes and reactions surfaced on Twitter. For instance, on May 2nd, 2023, Twitter^[10] user @ColbyJacobSmith tweeted a meme that photoshopped the original Facebook image into a photo frame with "Live, Laugh, Love" written on the top with "Laugh" crossed out in red. The meme gained roughly 6,600 likes in one day (shown below).

The story was subsequently written about by media outlets like Dexerto^[11] on May 2nd, 2023, resulting in more reactions online.