Sean Davis
(Reuters) – Misinformation and conspiracy theories spread online after former U.S. President Donald Trump was assassinated at a campaign rally on Saturday.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, allegedly shot the Republican presidential candidate from a rooftop at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding Trump’s right ear. One spectator died and two others were injured.
Reuters fact-checked some of the most widely shared narratives online.
The gunman was mistakenly identified
In the hours after the shooting, a photo emerged online of a man wearing a black sweatshirt, hat and black sunglasses. Social media posts identified the man as “Antifa extremist” Mark Violets, and local police named him as a suspect in an assassination attempt.
However, the man in the photo is Marco Violi, who was not involved in the shooting. Violi is an Italian sports writer who shares content about the Italian football team AC Roma.
In a statement emailed to Reuters and shared on his social media, Violi said he was in Rome and woke up at 2 a.m. to an influx of messages, adding that he “categorically denies has anything to do with this matter.”
Violi wasn’t the only person to be misidentified in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
The viral post also mistakenly identified another man, Maxwell Yearick, as the shooter. In 2016, multiple media reported that Yerick, who looked different from Crooks, was arrested after an altercation with police outside a Trump rally in Pittsburgh.
The image was tampered with and false claims were made that the filming had taken place.
Doctored images of Trump and Secret Service agents smiling on stage surfaced immediately after the shooting. The fake images were circulated to support claims that the assassination attempt was “carefully planned” to boost Trump’s support in the November election.
The original photo, taken by an Associated Press photographer, shows Trump and the agents looking serious.
The FBI said Sunday that Crooks acted alone and that the agency had not determined a motive.
Predictive programming conspiracy theory
Prediction shows are a type of conspiracy theory often resurrected after major news events, which suggest that governments and powerful groups provide the public with indications of planned events by embedding predictions in books, television shows, and movies.
Within an hour of the assassination attempt, a fabricated cartoon screenshot of Trump in a casket resurfaced and was described as a scene from the TV series “The Simpsons.”
But the photo has been circulating on social media since at least 2017.
Matt Selman, the show’s executive producer, told Reuters in an email that the screenshot never appeared on the show, adding that “a false Simpsons like this was created to mislead people.” Prediction’ is too easy.
A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
