PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - Multiple online sites have wrongly claimed Florida school shooting survivor and gun-control activist David Hogg was not on campus during the mass shooting.
The erroneous information was based on a video to promote a CBS documentary on the student activists of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The 8-minute video showed Hogg saying that on Feb. 14, he rode his bike 3 miles from his home to school, taking a camera with him. Stories shared on social media said that meant Hogg changed his story from an earlier account of being at school during the shooting, although some sites followed up with posts noting their misinterpretation.
Hogg huddled with other students during the shooting, using his cellphone to record those around him. Ashley Kurth, a culinary arts teacher, said she taught Hogg when he was a freshman. When the shooting erupted, Kurth sheltered students who had been outside her classroom.
“I physically grabbed David by the arm and pulled him into my room,” she said. “It is extremely frustrating the kind of information that is being put out there.”
In an interview with Vox published Feb. 20, Hogg specified the time of his bike ride: 6 p.m., after the shooting.
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This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.
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