Rumors of the gunman and what had happened spread far and wide online — often with easily debunked evidence or none at all — almost immediately after the first official reports of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Here are three of the most prominent rumors that have spread on online platforms such as Twitter, Gab, 4chan and Reddit.
1. No, the shooting was not a staged false flag operation.
Hours after Tuesday’s attack, far-right figures spread misinformation, claiming the shooting was a “false flag” attack. Among their baseless claims was that the shooting was orchestrated to lure local law enforcement officers away from the border, allowing criminals and drugs to enter the United States, and that gun control advocates staged the tragedy to spark public outcry.
Other social media posts claimed that parents shown in news clips awaiting news about their children turned out to be insufficiently emotional and crisis actors paid to play a role. The two murdered teachers were also accused of being crisis actors.
Claims of crisis actors and false flags in school shootings aren’t new: Infowars conspiracy theorist and broadcaster Alex Jones has lied for years that the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn., was organized by the federal government, involving people. posing as survivors and the parents of victims. Last year, Mr. Jones lost four defamation lawsuits filed by the families of the victims, many of whom have been harassed by his believers.
2. No, there is no evidence that the shooter was transgender.
Hours after the attack, a message circulated on 4chan’s online message board claiming the gunman was transgender. Numerous photos falsely claiming the gunman was wearing women’s clothing were attached.
Authorities say the shooter was a man.
The baseless claims made their way to Telegram channels of far-right militia groups like the Proud Boys, where people falsely claimed the shooting was the result of hormone therapy by the gunman.
On Wednesday, claims that the gunman was transgender were bolstered by high-profile people such as Representative Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican who was censored by the House last year after he posted a video of him murdering a Democratic lawmaker. Mr Gosar’s Twitter post on the matter has been deleted.
Photos of dark-haired transgender women circulated alongside images of the gunman’s face, accompanied by false accusations that they were the same person. “There’s an overwhelming amount of people posting pictures of this person who was the shooter and information about the nature of being transgender,” said Stacy Washington, host of the SiriusXM show “Stacy on the Right.” on Tuesday night. She added: “We don’t have definitive proof, but I would say, so many photos? My God. There’s something going on here.”
On Tuesday, a transgender artist on Reddit said that people online “just took my photos and used them to spread misinformation.” After the artist posted other photos as evidence, an account on Twitter discussing gun rights removed a post featuring the artist’s photo and apologized.
A 22-year-old transgender student living in New York also reported that photos of her were falsely associated with the gunman. She posted photos of herself on Twitter to prove her identity and asked people to stop saying the photos of her belonged to the shooter.
“I’m almost crying,” she posted at one point.
The Trans Safety Network, a research group that monitors threats against the transgender community, said in a statement Wednesday that it had identified photos of three transgender people falsely linked to the gunman and confirmed that all three were alive.
Mr. Gosar and Ms. Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
3. No, the shooter was not an undocumented immigrant.
False claims that the gunman was born outside the United States began circulating within hours of the shooting. Widely circulated on white nationalist Telegram channels and Gab accounts, claims that he was an undocumented immigrant to the United States, even after authorities, including Roland Gutierrez, a Texas state senator, confirmed that the gunman in North Dakota was born.
Two Telegram groups with ties to white supremacist figures on Wednesday claimed the gunman had “illegally entered the country” from the Mexican border. The groups, which each have thousands of followers, falsely claimed the shooter was undocumented in the United States.
“Did he cross the border illegally?” Code of Vets, a veterans organization, posted on Twitter. “Our country has a serious national security crisis that is developing.”
The group later added a message saying that “the gunman has been confirmed to be a civilian,” while stating: “Mental health needs to be addressed. Our border needs to be secured.”
Mr Gosar also said the gunman had been in the country illegally.
