On December 8, 2023, at around 6:31 p.m., Coeptus, the then-58th mayor of Bloxburg City and a major politician, was assassinated by Coeptus II during a visit to the Bloxburg City Hall in downtown Bloxburg, State of Bloxburg Valley, United States.
In a mass shooting, over 36 persons were shot by the perpetrator Coeptus II's AR-47, including one member of Bloxburg City Hall, Billy Mccarthy, who Coeptus was traveling with at the time of the incident. The total runtime of gunfire lasted for 25 seconds. An further nine people were hurt for various causes, mainly from broken glass or flying debris. Coeptus was successfully shot in the head.
Over six others were fatally shot during the shooting, making it one of the deadliest assassinations owing to the high injury and death tolls, but had one of the lowest death count for a mass shooting, due to the large death tolls that most mass shootings in the United States caused. After being taken to a nearby hospital, Coeptus passed away at 8:08 p.m. Bloxburg was placed under lockdown for a single day following the shooting, which led in extensive media coverage of the assassination.
Following the shooting, Coeptus II ran into a mountain, where he was arrested the next day. The incident received extensive press in the United States, but it was overshadowed by the 2023 December terror attacks on December 11, which occurred days later. Froggy Hopz, who served as mayor from 2008 to 2014, was temporarily elected as the 59th mayor of Bloxburg City for the rest of the month and was focused on the shooting and its investigation. However, due to a series of events that occurred throughout the following month and into January, Coeptus II was released and eventually became mayor of Bloxburg in 2024, as well as one of the many candidates for President in the upcoming 2024 elections.
Background
Froggy Hopz left the mayor's office in November 2014, following Copetus winning the elections for the mayor of Bloxburg, and Coeptus was elected as the mayor that same month.
Prior to the shooting, Coeptus had survived an assassination attempt; on July 12, 2021, while leaving for a meeting in the Robloxia Capital, he was shot in the leg by suspect Harvey Willis, who also fired over 40 bullets at others, in the process shooting nine others, wounding seven officers and one citizen. The shooting resulted in the death of one Bloxburg resident. The shooting prompted Coeptus to advocate for gun regulation in the years that followed, and Coeptus' security underwent significant modification during a three-month period. As part of the 2024 elections, voters were to pick between Coeptus and Bloxburg's previous mayor, Froggy Hopz.
At the time of the shooting, Coeptus was expected to win the Bloxburg elections the next year. On December 5, 2023, Coeptus stated that he will be going to City Hall to discuss Bloxburg's future and introduced several plans for the upcoming year. The following day, Coeptus traveled to downtown Bloxburg, where he delivered two lectures on the same day, December 7. Just hours before his death, he ate at a neighborhood restaurant.
Shooting
By 5:30 p.m., Coeptus II had ascended to the top of a structure near Bloxburg City Hall, where he remained for an hour and prepped his AR-47. At 6:20 p.m., Coeptus II indicated that he observed a huge gathering of reporters and took cover behind a wall for many minutes before pointing his AR-47 at the crowd at 6:30 p.m. At 6:30 p.m. on December 8, 2023, Coeptus and Bloxburg City Hall member Billy Mccarthy were making their way to the building's entrance, where they were scheduled to make speeches on Bloxburg's future and the city's impending 2024 elections.
Around 200 people were gathered, alongside with two news reporters, who were live on Bloxburg News and a sizable group of journalists at the scene at the time of the incident. Two gunshots were heard at 6:31 p.m. when Copetus approached the entryway. It was said that Coeptus paused moving for a bit before asking, "What was that?", turning around. Billy reportedly stated, "I believe they were gunshots," to the reporters. Three cops cried out, "rounds fired!" a few seconds later as more rounds were fired, prompting Copetus to try to hide from the gunfire. Police radio captured one of the recordings from an officer yelling "Holy crap!" "Gunshots! gunshots!". Several reporters were wounded throughout the shooting, and one attempted to film Coeptus and his bodyguards, but was shot in the head and slumped to the ground. Kayden Elliott, a friend of his, grabbed him and dragged him across the ground to a nearby tavern.
According to other sources, an officer attempted to get to Copetus but was pulled by the crowd and fell down. The cop allegedly assaulted a person while trying to get to Coeptus, however the claim of the incident was rejected owing to a lack of credible sources. Coeptus was hit in the head with the seventh through tenth rounds, totaling three shots, and collapsed to the ground. Even after killing him, Copetus II is reported to have continued firing into the crowd in an attempt to create a mass casualty catastrophe. Within 20 seconds into the shooting, four cops noticed Coeptus II on top of a building and fired at him, but they were unsuccessful in shooting him. According to reports, media cameras captured the moment the gunfire began, but several of them fell to the ground and one cracked. However, multiple videos and audios captured the incident as it was happening. Over five cops covered Coeptus from the time he was wounded until the gunfire stopped, when one of them cried that Coeptus was bleeding from the head, and they discovered that he had been shot in the head. Because of the gunfire, some people yelled for others to leave the scene. The majority of the victims who were shot fled inside a bar near Bloxburg City Hall. Over 70 individuals raced into a grocery store near City Hall. The shooting lasted for just 25 seconds.
After shooting over 70+ bullets into the crowd, Coeptus II stated that he then climbed down the building and ran away from the site, crossing a bridge that lead into a mountain. A witness, Evan Henderson, who observed Coeptus II fleeing towards the bridge, reported that Coeptus II was "scared as hell" and "looked like he regretted everything he had done." Evan was apparently alerted about the incident after witnessing many cops arrive on the site and was briefed on the suspect. Nine more people, including four civilians and four cops, were shot. Two reporters at the scene had minor cuts on their arms, while one of the citizens was struck in the chest. Billy took two blows to the arm and chest before collapsing to the floor. When an officer tried to restrain him, he was struck in the head by a bullet. Three people who were close to the store's glasses were injured when one of the bullets impacted them. Two gunshots struck one of the police officers in the chest while they were trying to find the perpetrator. Officers stated that "Coeptus was down" around 6:32 p.m., and some residents attended to him as others tried to help some of the other victims.
Victims
The incident injured over 36 people, with 10 shot and just one fatality: Coeptus, the mayor of Bloxburg, who was shot three times. The nine people who were not hit by gunfire were hurt by broken glass and flying debris. Two of the injured victims, not from gunfires, was due to them being crushed by the crowd. Billy Mccarthy, a Bloxburg City Hall member, was also among those injured. Some of the most notable injured victims, outside from Billy Mccarthy, were Tyler Robinson, Scott Lee, Anna Phillips, Lacey Hill, Harrison Lloyd, Frankie Cunningham, Frederick Mcdonald, Keira Wallace and Daniel Hussain.
Within hours of the shooting, major news outlets reported that over 40 or 50 people had been injured, with several killed due to the large size of the crowd; however, by 8:00 p.m., the number of injuries had dropped to 19, with 10 confirmed to have been shot and Coeptus being the sole fatality. However, by the next day, major networks reported that more than 20 individuals had been shot, bringing the total to 29, with over 37 wounded and one dead. Citizens and police officers reported the original casualties, and other individuals on social media claimed that 70 people were shot.
Suspect
- Main article: Coeptus II
The suspect of the shooting was Copetus II, a politician. At a young age, he was encouraged to become a Communist. Communism existed in his communist nation at the time. Coeptus II quit school after fifth grade to work as a printer's apprentice. He began working as a typesetter, writing essays and amusing drawings for periodicals that praised communism and railed against anti-communism. When Coeptus II was 18, he fled the communist homeland for Robloxia, where he worked as a printer before joining the Communist Party of Robloxia. Coeptus II became an autodidact in the evenings, visiting public libraries to learn more about communism than he could at school.
When Coeptus II was 26 years old in 2010, he had paranormal nightmares that led him to predict that the Community Party Robloxia and the Corporatist/Fascist Party of Robloxia would engage in a Second Robloxian Civil/Revolutionary War. Later on, he produced drawings endorsing communism. After that, Coeptus II departed for Bloxburg to work for the Communist Party of Robloxia, which was disregarded as a "third-party" and was losing the 2004 Robloxian Presidential Election. As a young adult, Coeptus II attempted to run for president, but he failed due to his age. Prior to the shooting, Coeptus II alleged that he experienced parapsychological visions, including one in which he saw an opportunity to murder the mayor and his mayoral successor, which was his motive for years.
Aftermath
Immediate
- Main article: Temporary mayoralty of Froggy Hopz
Coeptus was taken to a local hospital at 6:50 p.m., where a sizable group of media reporters was gathered. Some of Froggy Hopz's cops who had acquaintances at the scene of the shooting allegedly updated him on the incident around 7:00 p.m. According to one of the reporters, Froggy exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!" and was "extremely furious", with one stated that he said "Why did this have to happen to him?" A few minutes later, Froggy affirmed that he had received a briefing and was scheduled to give a message to Bloxburg City on the future of Bloxburg and the level of violence.
Within minutes, Hopz instructed the majority of his men to rush to the scene of the incident as he gathered further information. Ceoptus had already died at that time, and the cops were informed of the mayor's death as well as the significant number of casualties. By 9:00 p.m., Hopz had been briefed about Coeptus' serious injuries and his official death. He first ordered a lockdown in Bloxburg, which occurred and lasted all day from December 9 to 10, to allow authorities to investigate the gunshot scene. The formal word of the event broke at 8:30 p.m., at which point there was widespread media coverage.
Froggy Hopz was scheduled to deliver a speech at 9:00 p.m., but due to the enormous gathering of journalists and police officers, the speech was held at 10:11 p.m., with over 200 reporters present. The speech lasted around ten minutes and included further information about the aftermath of the incident. On December 9, the day following the shooting in the early morning, Froggy Hopz was discreetly sworn in as Bloxburg's new mayor, with President Roblox and and was scheduled to deliver a speech regarding the incident. His public statement took place about 9:00 a.m. in front of a big media gathering, and it focused on the shooting and outlined how Coeptus II was most likely the suspect.
Funeral
- Main article: Funeral of Coeptus
Within hours after Coeptus' death, Bloxburg News and other major networks revealed that a funeral was already in the planning. On December 9, as Coeptus was recuperating at his Bloxburg home, the President of the United States and the then-temproy mayor Froggy Hopz announced that a state burial would be held within a few days. he funeral for Coeptus was held on December 15, after being postponed from its scheduled date of December 12 because to widespread media coverage of the subsequent 2023 December attacks. Over 3,000 people, including several of the victims shot in the incident, attended the state burial, and the day before, Bloxburg City's interim mayor, Froggy Hopz, declared December 15 a day of mourning. The burial was attended by almost 4,000,000 people in total, however it was overshadowed by ongoing news of the aftermath of the December 2023 attacks, which happened just days before.
Burial
Coeptus's burial was held on December 23, 2023, at around 12:00 p.m., and was attended by 100 private members and Froggy Hopz.
Effects on news coverage
On the day of the incident, prominent networks such as Bloxburg News, RBC, CNN, and Fox News provided information and updates, while also canceling episodes of other television programs. Avast Television's news block and Avast Espano reported on the shooting around 6:50 p.m. and canceled all future programming for the remainder of the day and until December 9. By 7:30 p.m., most networks in the United States were covering the incident, and within hours, all major networks were covering the aftermath. Bloxburg News by then had canceled all programming on December 9 to provide updates on the shooting.
Effects on the elections
- Main article: 2024 Bloxburg City emergency mayoral election
The shooting occurred about a year before the 2024 elections and had a significant influence on the results. Within hours after Coeptus' death, Froggy, Coeptus' competitor, was sworn in as Bloburg's next mayor for the remainder of 2023 and the next year, until a new major mayor was chosen. Polls focusing on both Coeptus and Froggy were withdrawn from major network websites, and the "Polls Tracking" feature on Bloxburg News' website was suspended for a few months until May 2024. However, by January 2024, Coeptus II had been chosen as the new mayor. By December 31, voters who had previously voted for Coeptus as the future mayor had been reimbursed for their expenditures, and by January 31 of the following year, approximately 90% of the voters had been reimbursed, and a re-election was scheduled, but a re-election never took place.
Effects on entertainment
Several episodes' initial broadcast dates were canceled on the day of shooting. Avast Television, which was showing Come Sing With Me!, shifted to news coverage of the massacre, and numerous episodes of House Of Corruption, White Man, World Of War, and Drama Family were postponed until later in the month, with some going as late as January 2024. RBC, which was airing a new edition of The Theme Park Reviewer, canceled all future programs to focus on the tragedy. The following episode was scheduled to air around Christmas 2023.