PHOENIX — ASU President Michael Crow is appealing for media literacy after a bizarre rumor involving ASU circulated online over the weekend.
“I would like to caution everyone once again about believing the garbage you read on social media,” Crow said in a written statement Monday.
The falsehood spread online after a social media personality who calls himself Dom Lucre posted a video showing a man ranting on a public walkway and threatening to kill Republicans. Attached to the video was a mug shot of the Pennsylvania Trump shooting suspect. Both individuals have slender builds and similar hair colors. Lucre’s social media message suggested they are the same person.
They are not.
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The video is more than four years old and originated from the ASU campus. ASU Police and the FBI investigated the incident back in 2020. According to an ASU Police Department spokesperson, agents identified the man by his name and birthdate at the time (which are different from the Pennsylvania shooter’s name and birthdate) and police say they determined the individual did not pose a credible threat at the time.
The Dom Lucre Twitter account, with more than 1 million followers, no longer has the post on the timeline.
But the message was viewed more than 7 million times.
“The unending desire of some ‘content creators,’ news organizations and ordinary citizens to be the first to identify something shocking… is leading us to a world in which no ‘news’ is reliable,” Crow wrote. “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.”
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