ABC News Did Not Share a Manipulated Image of the Texas Elementary School Shooter
The Claim
ABC News manipulated the image of the Texas elementary school shooter to make his features appear more Caucasian.
News posted on
Emerging story
Several social media users shared an image that purportedly shows how ABC News manipulated the image of the Texas elementary school shooter to make his features seem more Caucasian.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating claim and found it to be fake.
Multiple indicators indicate that the altered image did not originate from ABC. A chyron above the manipulated image that read, "that gunman, 18 years old," contained a grammatical error and was written in an incorrect font that ABC does not use.
Misbar's team conducted an advanced Twitter search and discovered that the widely shared image did not originate from the ABC News account.
Furthermore, ABC News used an unedited photo to report the shooter's identity on Twitter.
On May 24, ABC News aired a television report that included an unedited photo of the shooter.
Texas Elementary School Shooting
On Tuesday, a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde County killed 19 children and two adults, making it the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
Uvalde, a predominantly Latino community, was the site of the country's deadliest school shooting since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012.
Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old Uvalde resident, and US citizen was identified as the suspect by Governor Abbott. “He shot and killed, horrifically and incomprehensibly,” Abbott said.
