The twisted links between Charlie Kirk's assassin and Luigi Mangione

They are two 20-something suspects in notorious targeted murders – both white, good-looking, having everything to live for and from solid families.

Both are believed to have worked alone. Both took out their victims in broad daylight. Both scrawled their messages on their bullet casings, and both managed to flee the scene of the crime before eventually the inevitable happened and their luck ran out.

And both have what has been called a narcissistic oblivion to humanity – not giving a damn for the consequences of their actions.

Luigi Mangione and Tyler Robinson have something else in common – a twisted and devoted following that believes the killings they are implicated in were justified.

Mangione, who is accused of shooting healthcare executive Brian Thompson to death on a New York City street last December, and Robinson, now awaiting charges in connection with Wednesday's killing of Conservative gadfly Charlie Kirk, are seen as heroes in some liberal circles.

Their victims deserved their fate, the sick argument goes. Thompson, 50, was responsible for denying health care to millions, Mangione's followers claim, while those same people say Kirk, 31, was justly killed for preaching hate to anyone who would listen.

And now the country is girding itself for an outpouring of support for Robinson – who was turned in by his family late Thursday – similar to the one that has seen Mangione lionized as a sort of Robin Hood figure.

Within a day of Kirk's murder the Internet was awash with messages saying the father of two young children deserved to die.

And now the scenes that have greeted Mangione's court appearances – with supporters expressing their love for an accused killer – can now be expected anew when Robinson has his days in court in the coming days, weeks and months.

Mangione's narcissism has been there to see all along. From the loafers and no socks he wore to his first New York court appearance to his 'manifesto' in which he wrote: 'I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done.'

'Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,' he scribbled before adding: 'A reminder: the US has the $1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank #42 in life expectancy.'

Further into his screed he wrote: 'It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.'

Robinson's narcissism expressed itself in the Discord messages he shared with his roommate, where he couldn't help himself describing how he retrieved his rifle from a drop point and later left it wrapped in a towel.

Those who have turned up in downtown Manhattan with 'Free Luigi' placards will likely be mirrored when Robinson appears 2,000 miles away in suburban Salt Lake City.

Clearly Mangione's chiseled good looks have much to do with the reason people – mainly young women – are obsessed with his innocence.

But both he and Robinson have followers who support the ideologies that led to the death of Thompson and Kirk.

Despite their cult-hero status, neither Mangione nor Robinson was known to be particularly political.

Mangione followed both left-wing Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He was no fan of either Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

He had a minor obsession with Unabomber Ted Kaczynski – who killed three people and injured 23 more with mail bombs over a 17-year period – but said he was 'rightfully imprisoned' because he killed innocent people.

Robinson appears to have become more radical as he grew older in true-blue Washington, Utah. When he learned the right-wing activist was coming to the state he told family members: 'Kirk is full of hate and spreading hate.'

But there was nothing to hint that he had the passion to drive for more than three hours so he could kill him, nor that his worldview would lead him allegedly to scrawl messages such as 'hey fascist, catch' or the lyrics to Bella Ciao, a song sung by anti-Mussolini forces in Italy on his bullet cases.

But like Mangione, his messages appear mixed. Another casing read: 'If you read this you are gay lmao,' while a fourth used a phrase used to troll 'furries' and transgender people.

Thompson's killer famously scrawled the words 'delay', 'deny' and 'depose' on three casings – tactics healthcare critics claim insurance companies use to save themselves from paying out on claims.

The killers of both Thompson and Kirk had each meticulously planned the timing of their atrocities. 

Mangione, 25 at the time, 26 now, apparently knew exactly when the United Healthcare boss would be entering the New York Hilton hotel to give a speech to investors.

He waited outside and gunned him down from behind in cold blood – a murder captured by CCTV.

He then promptly jumped on his bike and faded into the early-morning crowds in midtown Manhattan before fleeing town. 

He was eventually caught at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson's death.

Although not all the details of Kirk's murder are known, Robinson, 22, is said to have driven into Orem, Utah, positioned himself on a roof with his long gun and waited for Kirk to appear.

Two questions into Kirk's give and take with the 3,000-strong crowd, the killer fired from 200 yards, jumped down from the Losee Center at the Utah Valley University and melted into the countryside.

Robinson then drove his gray Dodge Challenger back to his parents' home.

Coincidentally the 270 miles between New York and Altoona is almost identical to the distance between Orem, where Kirk was killed, and Washington, where Robinson handed himself in.

Now, as justice grinds on for both Mangione and Robinson, even the court proceedings are likely to be similar with federal and state courts vying over where the high-profile cases should be heard.

On the face of it both are simple murder trials, normally the purview of the state courts.

But the Department of Justice has made it clear it is building a federal case against Mangione – partly because New York does not have the death penalty. 

It says he stalked Thompson across state lines.

Utah does carry out executions – famously it was the first state to use the death penalty after the Supreme Court re-instated it in 1976, when Gary Gilmore faced a firing squad. It last used it in August last year.