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Ariana Baio
Feb 15, 2023
Michigan State shooting: Motive unclear in mass shooting
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A viral post containing misinformation about the Michigan State shooting has caused a Massachusetts man to be wrongly identified as the shooter.
Monday night students at Michigan State University were sent into lockdown due to an active shooter on campus. In the horrifying hours that passed, three students were killed five others were injured.
Immediately, rumors began swirling online about the identity of the shooter.
One viral Facebook post claimed the shooter was 21-year-old “Lynn Dee Walker” and used two photos of a young man.
However, the man in the photos was not Lynn Dee Walker, nor was he the shooter.
The man in the photos is R. Cam, whose Twitter handle is @Logo_Daedalus, and while the mass shooting was occurring in East Lansing, Michigan, Cam was home in Massachusetts.
“If you see people posting me, report it, thanks,” Cam tweeted on Monday adding that he was home in Western Massachusetts with his wife.
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The actual shooter was identified as 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae who bears no resemblance to Cam.
\u201cI am at my house in western massachusetts reading with my wife, if you see literally anybody spreading this shit, please get them to delete it. I don\u2019t ask for much & I have to be subjected to this sort of shit on your behalf. Help me out here.\u201d— R.\u0421\u0430\u043c \ud83e\udd8b\ud83d\udc0f (@R.\u0421\u0430\u043c \ud83e\udd8b\ud83d\udc0f) 1676345714
But it was too late. By Tuesday, the Facebook post had been shared on Twitter, Truth Social, Reddit, and more.
Cam asked followers to help dispel the misinformation by reporting any social media posts claiming he was the shooter as false information.
It is unclear where the rumor about Cam first started but one Twitter account, bretugoddo, claimed to have made the “Facebook thing” in Photoshop and lied about the identity of the shooter as a “meme.”
\u201c@Logo_Daedalus If their statement is true that they were the one who created that image... I hope you can take legal action against them!\u201d— R.\u0421\u0430\u043c \ud83e\udd8b\ud83d\udc0f (@R.\u0421\u0430\u043c \ud83e\udd8b\ud83d\udc0f) 1676345714
Although according to Daily Dot, some people online have claimed the misinformation began on 4chan.
Either way, Cam says he is “viscerally disgusted” at the accusation.
Whenever mass shootings occur in the US, they open a door for conspiracy theorists and skeptics online to share false information about the shooting.
Alex Jones proliferated the false theory that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a false flag, people claimed the shooter in the Robb Elementary School shooting was a transgender woman, and more.
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