Image of Austin Shooter Not Released Due to Minimal Information
The Claim
The media didn't release an image of the Austin shooter because he is Black.
News posted on
Emerging story
On June 12, 2021, a shooter in downtown Austin, Texas opened fire and left 14 injured and one dead. The local newspaper did not release a photo of the suspects the next morning, claiming the photo could perpetuate stereotypes. A social media user with over 53,000 followers then posted that the reason the photo was not released was because the suspect was black.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar discovered that the altercation that happened in Austin on June 12 involved two groups of teens who happened to cross paths on 6th Street. According to SpectrumLocalNews.com, one of the shooting suspects, a 17-year-old from Killeen, Texas, was part of one of the groups and pulled a gun from his waistband and began firing shots.
The day after the shooting, the Austin American-Statesman ran a detailed article about the shooting and included an editor’s note about not identifying the shooter.
The Austin police did issue a press release describing the suspect as a black male. However, the American-Statesman did not include a preliminary description because it would apply to many people and not be helpful, not because of the race of the individual. According to the AP Style Book used by most major media outlets, “Consider carefully when deciding whether to identify people by race.” One would assume this would apply to all races.
The original shooting suspect was 17 year old Jeremiah Tabb. However, this story continues to unfold as charges were just dropped against Mr. Tabb. Police are now closing in on a new potential suspect. According to the Austin police, the new suspect, who they now believe was the primary shooter after their preliminary investigation, is still at large.
