Did David Hogg admit to not being on campus during shooting?
After the February 14th 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people, several of the students at the school have since become vocal gun control activists.
One of those students, David Hogg, has given numerous media interviews of how the attack unfolded, and how he ultimately ended up hiding in a closet as police surrounded the school.
Hogg and many of his friends have since become the targets to a barrage of bizarre conspiracy theories that have been spawned online, accusing them of being “crisis actors” or “shills” funded by the government. The latest claim is Hogg had admitted in an interview that despite his numerous accounts for the media, he actually wasn’t at the school and had to travel three miles there by bike.
This latest conspiracy theory claims Hogg stated in a CBS interview…
On the day of the shooting, I got my camera and got on my bike and rode as fast as I could three miles from my house to the school to get as much video and to get as many interviews as I could because I knew that this could not be another mass shooting.
Many of those peddling this latest conspiracy assert that if Hogg claimed he travelled three miles by bike to “take as many interviews as I could”, then he could not have been at the school during the attack, and as such has lied, exposing himself as a “crisis actor”.
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It is true that Hogg did indeed make the above quote, which appears in a segment released by CBS ahead of a new documentary about the shooting and resulting Never Again movement named 39 Days. However, it has been taken completely out of context.
Instead of looking for the correct context, many of those online have instead assumed it is “proof” of a government cover-up that backs up their wildly crazy conspiracy theories.
In reality, in that quote, Hogg is describing his trip back to the school later that evening, many hours after the shooting had occurred. Hogg had been on campus during the shooting, and upon being evacuated, had at some point went home to retrieve his camera and then returned back to the school at around 6pm. Hogg has already described this in other interviews (that could have easily been found if those peddling such theories cared about actually discovering the truth.) For example, this interview days after the shooting on Vox.com –
Because of timing. At 6 pm after the shooting, I took my camera, got on my bike. I rode in basically twilight. And I ride my bike three miles down winding sidewalks and find my way to the school, as I’ve done in previous years. All the while, I was making sure my camera bag didn’t rip open, because if you zip it a certain way, the camera falls out, and it would be destroyed.
I start shooting B-roll, and I see Fox News over there. I knew I wanted to talk on the news and make sure there was advocacy, especially with so many people from the [National Rifle Association] and different gun-toting Americans who watch Fox News. I went on the day of [the shooting], and said, “There cannot be another mass shooting,” and I think that’s partially why. But also other people started saying that at the same time.
As such, no, Hogg did not admit to not being at the school during the attack. This is simply more conspiracy nonsense peddled by those whose sole interest appears to be peddling conspiracy theories.
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