Fake news spreading about the Madden video game event shooting

ByCraig Haley

As is typical with mass shootings across the US, plenty of misinformation has been disseminated across the Internet in the aftermath of the Madden Video Game event shooter in Jacksonville, Florida.

Still not Sam Hyde

Originally started as a sick joke on 4Chan.org a number of years ago, the Sam Hyde prank is still going strong it would seem. The prank, or meme, involves incorrectly identifying an online comedian known as Sam Hyde as the person responsible for any mass shooting, along with showing his photo.

Screenshot below –

Sam Hyde has also been falsely attributed to being the San Bernardino shooter, the Parkland school shooter and the Las Vegas concert shooter, as well as many other mass shootings in the United States. He wasn’t responsible for any of them, including the Madden shooting.

Not Paul Denino either

Some erroneous reports also claimed the shooter was named as Paul Denino, though at the time of writing the shooter’s name is not known. (UPDATE: The shooter was subsequently identified as David Katz)


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Still not Paul Denino

The below photo was posted onto Paul Denino’s Reddit channel 10 days ago, and doesn’t show the shooter “moments before the Madden Tournament shooting”.

11 people killed?

Some early reports have claimed that 11 people were killed in the shooting, though this has not come from authorities. While fatalities have been confirmed, local media are reporting four deaths at the time of writing, and 11 injured. It is likely that the 11 figure was miscommunicated, leading to erroneous reports of 11 fatalities. (UPDATE: Authorities subsequently confirmed that two people were killed as well as the shooter.)

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office confirmed that inaccurate numbers are being circulated and advised Twitter users to get their information from the official Twitter account for the Sheriff’s Office at @JSOPIO.

We will update this article when more misinformation comes to light.

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