Wrong suspects in Trump assassination attempt – DW – 14.07.2024

Among the misrepresentations surrounding the assassination attempt on likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are some relating to the identity of the suspected shooter.

The security authorities identified the attacker within a few hours of the failed attack. The FBI has named the suspect as Thomas Matthew C., whose full name is not mentioned here for reasons of German press protection to protect the personal rights of suspects.

The suspect was killed immediately after he fired shots at Trump’s rally. Authorities told reporters that the suspect was not carrying identification and that they confirmed his identity using DNA and other methods.

Despite this, numerous social media posts continued to spread misinformation and confusion regarding the shooter’s identity.

Claim: “Mark Violets” is the attacker.

DW fact check: INCORRECT

Soon after the attack, false claims began to appear on various social media Platforms that claimed the attacker was an Antifa activist named “Mark Violets.” Many accounts shared screenshots of social media posts making this claim, as seen in our image. These posts included an image of a man wearing sunglasses.

The image that accompanied the post actually showed an Italian man named Marco Violi, who has nothing to do with the Pennsylvania shooting. According to his Instagram bio, he is a journalist and mainly covers soccer.

In an Instagram postVioli explained in Italian that he was in Rome at the time of the incident and became aware of the hoax through a flood of messages on his phone. “I am in Rome and had no idea what happened except that I was watching Sky TG24 in Italy, which I still follow,” Violi wrote. He mentioned that he would file a complaint “against the X accounts that spread this hoax and against all the headlines that propagated it.”

Violi has published several videos on his YouTube channel which show the same spatial background as the distributed image.

Claim: After the attack, the attacker released a video claiming that the police had caught the wrong person.

DW fact check: INCORRECT

A video and a picture began circulating on social media. It shows a man with long blond hair in a blue shirt claiming to be the attacker and that authorities did not shoot the actual attacker. “My name is Thomas Matthew C. I hate Republicans, I hate Trump. And you know what? You got the wrong guy!” the post said.

This was indeed a parody video created by an X user. Later, the user said in another X post that it was a joke. The user protected his tweets after the video and photo went viral. The profile is currently not publicly available.

However, many people thought He shared the video and picture and claimed they were from the real attacker.

Even the mainstream media fell for this trolling attempt, as two Indian Networks, a Ukrainian and a Romanian News website.

Claim: The suspect is not Thomas Matthew C., but Maxwell Y.

DW fact check: INCORRECT

It remains unclear how the name Maxwell Y. appeared shortly after the assassination, but it spread quickly. Several user posted a picture of a man with long brown hair and claimed he was the suspect and was killed by security forces shortly after the shooting.

Our research has shown that the image circulating does indeed show a man named Maxwell Y., but he has no connection to Saturday’s incident in Butler, Pennsylvania. We found this out by searching for the name and using reverse image search. Media Reports revealed that Maxwell Y. was involved in a confrontation between Trump supporters and protesters in Pittsburgh in 2016. At that time, Maxwell Y. was arrested and his picture was published in several news reports.

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump has triggered a wave of misinformation on social media. DW’s fact-checking team recommends being cautious in such sensitive times and thinking critically before sharing news or rumors. Would you like to learn more about how to recognize and verify fake content? Read our articles and videos on this content.

Edited by: Uta Steinwehr, Sean Sinico