How lies that the Madison school shooter was transgender spread online
It’s become common for anti-trans social media users to quickly spread false or unverified claims about the gender identities of shooting suspects.
Only 38 minutes after a Madison, Wisconsin, teacher called 911 to report Monday’s school shooting, the lies began to spread.
The first one, in a post on X, said simply: “Taking bets on another trans shooter.” The post didn’t pick up much traction.
But 57 minutes later, the false claims about the shooter’s gender identity found their footing.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who regularly spreads unfounded claims after shootings, posted on X: “If the statistical trend continues with this tragic event, there is a 98% chance the shooting is trans or gang related.” Jones has 3.4 million followers on the site, and his post was viewed 282,000 times in a day.
Jones was tapping into a trend on the conservative internet that now plays out after many high-profile crimes: People hunt for clues to try to connect a given crime to transgender people, or they jump to the conclusion that a suspect is transgender regardless of whether evidence points that way or is relevant to the crime.
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