Devin Patrick Kelley’s Real Photo: Hoax Image Of Fake Facebook Page For Texas Shooter With AR-15 Rifle Spreads
There’s plenty of false news being spread in the wake of David Patrick Kelley being identified as the shooter in Texas. As reported by BuzzFeed, a photo purporting to be that of David Kelley’s Facebook page, showing an AR-15 type of assault rifle, is not real. The publication claims the Facebook page was a fake page – but it is not clear if the fake page used a real photo of Kelley or a photo of some other person that is not Devin. The real photo of Devin, as published by CBS News, can be seen below.
According to the Daily Beast, Kelley was a 26-year-old man who hailed from the San Antonio suburb named New Braunfels. The publication notes that Devin was married and his mother-in-law had a post office box address in Sutherland Springs. The same photo allegedly showing Kelley, as pulled from the now-deleted Facebook page, appears on the Daily Beast, although it isn’t clear if that photo actually reflects Kelley.
So many hoaxes have arisen in the wake of the tragic church shooting that BuzzFeed has listed many of them, including the same “Sam Hyde” fake shooter photo that is usually used in the wake of a tragedy. As reported by the Daily Mail, Texas congressman Vicente Gonzalez fell for the “Sam Hyde” hoax, which is a 4chan meme, with Vicente repeating the name to CNN.
#BREAKING | @CBSNews obtains photo of the Texas church shooting suspect Devin Patrick Kelley https://t.co/vfjonCamNE pic.twitter.com/qCneZMqZLY
— Peter Martinez (@rePetePro) November 6, 2017
Google Images is also filling with photos of the same person claimed to be Devin, along with photos that are purportedly from the defunct Facebook page. However, until officials release a verified photo of Devin, it will not be clear if the widely circulated photos actually reflect the Texas shooter.
Along with an allegedly fake photo of Kelley’s AR-15 style gun, with notes that the gun was a female who was a “bad b****,” there was an incorrect name that also spread around social media. BuzzFeed reported that the name Chris Ward initially spread around social media as the shooter after video of a woman giving the wrong name to the press went viral.
According to CBS News, Kelley formerly was a member of the U.S. Air Force who received a dishonorable discharge.
[Featured Image by Darren Abate/AP Images]
