Newsmax Runs Photo Of Wrong Man As TX Shooter

Mediaite reports:

While the notion that a person of Hispanic heritage could hold such views has flummoxed many on the political right, Newsmax took their confusion a step further by pairing their commentary about the dead suspect with a picture of the wrong Mauricio Garcia. The photo showed up on Monday night’s edition of Newsmax TV’s The Balance as host Eric Bolling convened a panel to discuss the shooting and again on Monday night during host Greg Kelly’s lengthy commentary about how the shooter was being falsely posed as a white supremacist in order to impugn “MAGA.”

Forbes reports: 

The photo does show a Mauricio Garcia, but he’s 36 years old, three years older than the actual shooter who opened fire on innocent bystanders on Saturday. That man’s mugshot was taken on August 4, 2022 when he was arrested and he has nothing to do with the shooting at an Allen outlet mall over the weekend.

In fact, the wrong photo became so common that it’s created conspiracy theories on platforms like Twitter where people believe some kind of government-perpetrated hoax is happening.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk even seemed to entertain the possibility of a conspiracy on Monday, engaging with several Twitter accounts—End Wokeness and The Redheaded Libertarian, among others—who suggested the discrepancy between the photos was a “psyop.”

that’s because the guy with a neck tattoo is not him

idiots like you just googled the shooter’s name and ran with the first picture you saw and assumed it was him

no legitimate news source ever claimed that was the guy. you did. https://t.co/iUlMtDf6xD

— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) May 8, 2023

Newsmax Repeatedly Shows Photo Of Wrong Man Claiming He’s Texas Mall Shooter — After Social Media Ran Wild With It https://t.co/HxYh7nNi4P

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 9, 2023