Elon Musk is amplifying accounts on Twitter that appear to be insinuating the mass shooting in Allen, Texas was a false flag.
The alleged gunman, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, is accused of killing eight people and injuring seven on Saturday after opening fire at a suburban Dallas shopping mall.
In the following days, law enforcement officials revealed that Garcia had expressed support for neo-Nazi and white supremacist views. The claim was immediately rejected by conservatives as “fake news” given the suspected shooter’s apparent Latino heritage.
Yet an account linked to Garcia on a Russian social media account showed that the alleged gunman not only had a swastika tattoo but repeatedly expressed support for Nazi ideology.
In one post, Garcia even shared a meme about Latino children becoming white supremacists. Still, the information did little to deter prominent right-wing figures, who instead argued that the new evidence only further supported their belief that the shooting was suspicious.
The issue became even more widespread after Musk began responding to users promoting the conspiratorial claims. In response to a tweet from The Redheaded Libertarian that called the shooting a “Psyop” given Garcia’s support for podcaster Tim Pool and the Twitter account LibsOfTikTok, Musk likewise suggested that something strange was occurring.
“This gets weirder by the moment,” Musk said.
In another example, Musk again argued that it was peculiar that Garcia followed LibsOfTikTok and Pool, described by The Redheaded Libertarian as “a Jewish lady and a milquetoast fence sitter.”
“Very strange,” Musk replied.
After the account “End Wokeness” claimed that it was suspicious that the public quickly learned about Garcia’s political beliefs, Musk once again responded, ensuring that the tweet would seen by countless users on the platform.
“Odd,” Musk wrote.
Countless false claims have since been amplified by right-wing users. Pictures of other individuals with the same name as Garcia have been spread online. Others have attempted to paint Garcia not as an avowed neo-Nazi but a Mexican drug cartel or gang member instead.
The shooting is like countless others in that conspiracy theorists will immediately reject any information that they feel reflects poorly on their ideology while only agreeing with data that supports their world view.
