Despite widespread rumors, a University of Texas student with a gun and a concealed-carry permit did not help police stop Monday’s deadly attack.
The rumor appears to have come from an anonymous Twitter feed, whose user Tweeted out a screen shot of a conversation thread in which someone – whose name was blurred out – claims to have “grabbed my gun and ... chased the kid briefly.”
University of Texas police say the rumor of help from an armed student is false. They say they have found no corroborating evidence, be it video or first-hand accounts.
“It’s a rumor and there’s nothing to verify it,” University of Texas spokeswoman Cindy Posey said.
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Regardless, the story, trumpeted by the InfoWars web site under the headline "Report: Student with gun stops mass stabbing at University of Texas," has helped prove the old adage attributed to Mark Twain about a lie traveling halfway around the world before the truth can get its pants on.
The rumor began making the rounds on social media shortly after the stabbing, which left one person dead and three wounded. The InfoWars post cites Tweet by @TexasRebel56, who appears to have shared a screenshot
of a private message of someone – the names of the people on thread are obscured – claiming: "I ran inside and grabbed my gun out (sic) and came back and chased the kid briefly but I wasn't comfortable shooting because people were around."
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UT Student Government Vice President Binna Kim was among those who repeated the rumor, though after sending it via GroupMe she promptly tweeted an apology that stated the rumor had not been confirmed.
Robert Quigley, who studies social media as a UT senior lecturer, said the natural urge to share information without verification is heightened during a crisis, when people have to weigh the potential usefulness of information against the possibility is could be wrong. Add to that social-media networks that are designed to make some stories go viral and a recipe for spreading falsehoods emerges, he said.
Quigley said social-media networks bear some responsibility for ensuring the accuracy of content spread over them, and that some are starting to take steps to deal with the situation. But much of the problem ultimately still lies with news consumers. Among Quigley’s tips: go to established news organizations and, if not certain about one’s credibility, look for a way to contact the people running them.
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In the case of the supposedly gun-brandishing student, outlets that ran with the story tended to lack contact info and any sort of reputation, Quigley said.
He added: “If (a story) fits into your preconceived notions, question yourself” and whether it could simply be fake news being pushed to further a particular agenda.
A UT student who arrived at the scene shortly after the attack did tell the American-Statesman that another student had mentioned brandishing a gun. The student who talked to the Statesman said the other student told him he had “flashed” a gun at the suspect. But police later said they could not confirm the story, and said that it was unlikely based upon the timeframe of the incident.
Editor's note: The identity of a person named in a previous version of this story has been removed. That person had shared Binna Kim's GroupMe message, but said he did not respond to subsequent replies about the supposedly armed student and did not further spread the rumor.
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