Fake: Atlanta Shooter Facebook Post
The Claim
Robert Aaron Long, the Atlanta massage parlor shooter, posted a controversial message to Facebook before his shooting spree.
Emerging story
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021, eight people were murdered at several massage parlors in the Atlanta area. In the aftermath of the killer's rampage, both the public and law authorities have speculated on his motivation.
A screenshot of a post allegedly from Robert Aaron Long’s Facebook has been making the rounds on social media. In the post, he accuses China of engaging in “a COVID coverup,” alleging a conspiracy by the Chinese which Americans need to fight against. Social media users have held this post up as proof that Long’s murderous streak was racially motivated.
Misbar’s Analysis
We at Misbar have determined this screenshot to be a fake. The post does not align with Facebook’s current format: the poster’s name is highlighted blue instead of black, the emojis at the bottom overlap in the wrong direction, and the post is generally full of misalignments. Furthermore, the post was confirmed to be a fake by Andy Stone, a communications representative from Facebook.
Creating fake Facebook posts is easy to do with generator websites like this one.
While this screenshot may be fake, it does not rule out the possibility that the Atlanta shootings were racially motivated. The massacre has come at time when some say discrimination against Asian people in American is at an all-time. Due to this trend, many have already speculated that this was the case with Long. His own claims of having a “sex addiction” have been largely dismissed by experts as a weak excuse not rooted in legitimate psychology.
As the case is very recent, there has not yet been a thorough investigation into the killer's exact motives.
