A shooter attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in the western Pennsylvania town of Butler on July 13.
A bullet grazed Trump’s ear, and three rally attendees were shot — Corey Comperatore, 50, died, and David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, were injured.
Secret Service agents killed the suspect at the scene, and the FBI later identified him as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Investigators said that it appears Crooks acted alone.
But conspiracy theories and misinformation on social media began clouding coverage of the incident almost immediately after it happened.
These are some of the claims we’ve addressed:
- Viral online posts made the unfounded claim that a woman at the rally acted “suspicious,” suggesting that she might have been involved in a plot to assassinate Trump, and that a QAnon-related character may have also been involved. But the FBI has said that the “investigation to date indicates the shooter acted alone.”
See “Posts Baselessly Suggest Others Were Involved in Trump’s Assassination Attempt” for more.
- Extensive media coverage of the attempted assassination of Trump at the rally has shown his injury and the immediate response of Secret Service agents. But social media posts made the unsupported claims that Trump wasn’t shot and the agents’ response indicated the incident was “staged.”
See “Posts Make Unsupported Claims About Trump’s Wound and Secret Service Response” for more.
- In the days following the assassination attempt, social media swirled with misinformation about the shooter. Crooks was a registered Republican, and there is no evidence he had a criminal record, contrary to popular claims online.
See “Misinformation Swirls About Trump Rally Shooter’s Identity” for more.
- Posts from the anonymous online forum 4Chan spread the false claim that Secret Service officials prevented an agent named “Jonathan Willis” from shooting Trump’s attempted assassin. The Secret Service has no employee by that name, and the claim is “categorically false,” the agency said.
See “False Claim About Fake Secret Service Agent Contributes to Rally Conspiracy Theories” for more.
- The actions of the Secret Service at the Pennsylvania rally are under review. But social media posts showed an altered photo to falsely claim agents were smiling while moving Trump to safety. The original Associated Press photo shows the agents weren’t smiling.
See “Posts Use Altered Image of Secret Service Agents Following Trump Shooting” for more.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.