A man who falsely claimed to be best friends with the 18-year-old black teenager whom a St. Louis police officer shot dead on Tuesday night has learned what happens when you lie to the Internet.
The shooting, which took place outside a Mobil gas station a few miles from Ferguson, Mo., left a victim reportedly named Antonio Martin dead from a gunshot wound. The Huffington Post’s original story on the shooting included an interview with a man who said he was with Martin at the time:
Jesus Christo, 18, told The Huffington Post that he and Martin were stopped by an officer who said they fit the descriptions of recent robbery suspects. Christo declined to speak over the phone, but spoke through direct messages on Twitter.
The officer attempted to search Martin, who refused, Christo said.
“The officer then stepped back and drew his weapon and pointed at Antonio and told us to lay on the ground,” Christo said. “I layed [sic] down but Antonio Refused [sic].”
As it turned out, this was a complete fabrication.
https://twitter.com/DesJuanTheThug/status/547686833505980417
The shadowy collective known as Anonymous was not laughing. They responded to “Christo’s” lies by doxing the operator of the account.
https://twitter.com/AnonyMobLive/status/547697198779998209
https://twitter.com/YourAnonGlobal/status/547708738597965824
ALSO!!! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO REPORT @DesJuanTheThug TO SIU’s DEAN OF STUDENTS!?! HER EMAIL Sermersh@siu.edu pic.twitter.com/YbbV7CU5Jo
— Lisan Al-Fahgee (@SynKami) December 24, 2014
@DesJuanTheThug deleted his tweets from a hour ago that has nothing 2 do w/ #AntonioMartin but here’s the screenshot pic.twitter.com/DUV9QoHktT
— Logan & Kyler Mom ♊️🧡 (@LaShae_523) December 24, 2014
The Huffington Post’s story now contains this correction regarding their sourcing: “A previous version of this story included an interview with a man claiming to have been at the scene of the shooting and friends with the deceased. As police have released statements saying the second person involved in the incident has fled the scene, the source is now suggesting he was never there.”
H/T Vocativ | Photo via Anonymous9000/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
