A mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14 led to an array of social media theories and conspiracies, one of which centered on a reporter covering its aftermath.
A May 18 Facebook post included two images taken from local news broadcasts, one of which identified a reporter as Brandon Walker and another that identified the same man as Walker Graham.
“They play with our minds everyday,” reads the post, which garnered more than 1,500 shares in two days. “Clearly dude is an actor. He an actor for the CIA (sic).”
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But the conflicting names were the result of human error at a local news station, not a conspiracy.
USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the claim for comment.
The man seen in the images is Brandon Walker, who is listed as a journalist on the website for KPRC-TV in Houston. Walker has been reporting there since 2015 but was in Buffalo to cover the aftermath of the shooting.
When doing a report for Orlando affiliate station WKMG-TV, the anchor incorrectly introduced him as Walker Graham. The station also listed the incorrect name on its chyron. Walker signed off his report with his correct name, Brandon Walker.
The online claims echo the "crisis actor" conspiracy theory. Some social media users have co-opted that term in...
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