Fact check: Viral post misidentifies Michigan State University shooting suspect

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·3 min read
1

The claim: Michigan State shooting suspect is 'Lynn Dee Walker'

A Feb. 13 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows two photos of a white man in dark-rimmed glasses and a black shirt.

"#BREAKING: Michigan State University SHOOTING SUSPECT is 21 year old 'Lynn Dee Walker' according to dispatch audio," reads the post's caption. "He is still on the loose and considered armed and dangerous."

The post was shared more than 50 times in less than a day. Other versions of the claim accumulated thousands of interactions across multiple platforms before they were deleted.

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Our rating: False

The post misidentifies the name, age and race of the suspected shooter. Police have identified the shooter at Michigan State University as 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae, a Black man.

Police say the shooter was Anthony Dwayne McRae

Police say McRae is the shooter who killed three students and wounded five others Monday night at Michigan State University, as USA TODAY previously reported.

Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of campus police, named McRae as the suspect at a media briefing Tuesday morning, while also noting McRae had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

McRae was also identified as the "person who committed these homicides" in a tweet from the verified Twitter account of the school's campus police.

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McRae's body was found off campus early Tuesday. McRae was not affiliated with the university, and authorities didn't know early Tuesday why he came to the school.

"We have absolutely no idea what the motive was," Rozman said.

McRae was previously arrested on a gun-related charge in 2019 in Lansing, Michigan. He pleaded guilty but never served time in prison. He was placed on probation in late 2019 and discharged in May 2021. Court records indicate he could not legally own or possess a weapon during the time he was on probation.

The photos with the false claims show a Massachusetts-based writer who identified himself as Cameron Fuller in a phone interview with the Associated Press, which also debunked the claim.

Fuller, who told AP he has been the subject of false claims before, posted one of the photos to his Twitter account on Oct. 3, 2020. In a tweet posted Monday night, Fuller said he was with family in Massachusetts.

The five wounded students remained in critical condition Tuesday, a Sparrow Hospital official told USA TODAY. Rozman said the identities of the victims would be released later Tuesday.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Viral post misidentifies Michigan State shooting suspect