An array of sometimes conflicting information has emerged since a mass shooting left 19 elementary school students and two teachers dead and injured 17 others, at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. Officials' statements about the day of the shooting have shifted, policymakers and voters have debated gun control and high levels of emotion about the shooting have all combined to create an environment ripe for the spread of misinfomation.
USA TODAY's fact check team has analyzed an array of false and misleading claims related to the Uvalde tragedy, including assertions about the gunman, the nature of the shootings and gun policy in the U.S.
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Here's a rundown of our Uvalde fact checks.
Claim: The Uvalde shooting was a false flag operation
Our rating: False
Baseless conspiracy theories frequently and wrongly claim high-profile events were false flag operations, and such theories have been spread about both the Sandy Hook Elementary and Robb Elementary school shootings. However, numerous eyewitness accounts and statements from Texas officials show the Uvalde attack was not staged. Read more.
The claim: A representative of Gov. Greg Abbott offered to pay the family of a Uvalde victim to oppose gun restrictions
Our rating: False
An anonymous Twitter user who claimed to be the uncle of a victim of the Uvalde school shooting garnered the sympathy and...
On May 10, a Muslim man called Arif Khan was assaulted inside a hotel in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal. Khan was with a Hindu woman at the hotel when men reportedly linked to the Bajrang Dal entered the ...