ASU President Michael M. Crow on Trump shooter and ASU social media rumors
July 15, 2024
As social media promulgates the usual kind of unsubstantiated and ill-informed theories about the shooting of former President Trump, one post being circulated attempts to implicate Arizona State University. In response to all this nonsense, I would like to caution everyone once again about believing the things you read on social media. To be clear, the individual who attempted to assassinate former President Trump had no association with ASU and was not the person seen on a video on the ASU campus four years ago.
ASU concluded its investigation back in 2020, in conjunction with the FBI, and determined the subject in the video was not a credible threat – and that person has a different name and different date of birth than the suspect in the attempted assassination of former President Trump over the weekend.
The unending desire of some “content creators,” news organizations and ordinary citizens to be the first to identify something shocking, the impulse to be the bearer of unsubstantiated bad news and the incessant push to attract attention, followers and “likes” is leading us to a world in which no “news” is reliable. I strongly encourage you to find trusted and reliable sources of information rather than relying on digital forums and their rumor mongering, conspiracy theories, self-serving interests, and purposefully and maliciously designed falsehoods.