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Canadian Man Falsely Named as Charlie Kirk’s Shooter on Social Media

NYT - Media · Stuart A. Thompson · last updated

Michael Mallinson received a harried call from his daughter shortly after Charlie Kirk, the right-wing influencer, was shot in Utah on Wednesday.

She said that his photo was circulating online and that he had been identified — falsely — as the shooter.

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Mr. Mallinson said he was a 77-year-old retired banker who lived and was in Toronto. But thousands of posts on social media claimed he was a registered Democrat from Utah who had shot and killed Mr. Kirk. The mix-up was apparently because of his resemblance to a man who was briefly detained by the police after the shooting.

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