Police say false online claims about the Brown University shooter being a Palestinian student complicated the investigation into the deadly campus attack.
WASHINGTON: Rhode Island officials have condemned a wave of misinformation they say severely complicated the investigation into a fatal shooting at Brown University.
Police identified the gunman as 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, a former student of the Ivy League institution.
He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a New Hampshire storage unit after killing two students and wounding others.
Throughout the manhunt, anonymous and right-wing social media accounts falsely claimed the shooter was a Palestinian student enrolled at the university.
“Criminal investigations are grounded in evidence, not speculation or online commentary,” said Colonel Darnell Weaver, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
“The endless barrage of misinformation, disinformation, rumors, leaks and clickbait were not helpful in this investigation.”
The false narrative targeted student Mustapha Kharbouch, whose image and email were plastered online alongside police footage of the person of interest.
“The past few days have been an unimaginable nightmare,” Kharbouch said in a statement.
“I woke up on Tuesday morning to unfounded, vile, Islamophobic, and anti-Palestinian accusations being directed toward me online.”
Kharbouch’s legal team said he received non-stop death threats and had fully cooperated with law enforcement, who confirmed he was never a person of interest.
Right-wing podcaster Tim Pool, billionaire Bill Ackman and US Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon were among those who amplified the false claims.
Brown University condemned the “harmful doxxing activity” and took steps to minimise the student’s online presence as a safety measure.
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse pleaded for social media users to “shut up with the speculation,” warning rumors could overwhelm police tip lines.
University President Christina Paxson said the attack and aftermath had been “devastating” for those “targeted by online rumors and accusations.”
She expressed hope that identifying the true suspect would end the troubling online activity. – AFP
