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For university student Dave Sanchez, seeing Trump acolyte Charlie Kirk murdered during a campus event was like watching his own brother get shot. “It still makes me sick to my stomach,” said Sanchez, who returned to campus on Thursday to mourn the Republican superstar who was gunned down while addressing a large crowd of students.”We watch him all the time and so it really does feel like one of your own family members, your own brother’s been killed,” said Sanchez, an accounting student whose father came to the United States from Peru.The 26-year-old became captivated by Kirk’s social media videos and admired his “dedication to faith, family and freedom.””He did change the political climate on campuses, leading young people to look at conservatism in a different way,” said Sanchez, who voted for Donald Trump in both 2020 and 2024 and was sporting a red “Make America Great Again” cap.- ‘I hope he is qualified’  -At 31, Kirk was an influential figure on the American right, and host of a conservative talk show. His youth organization, Turning Point USA, has branches on more than 800 American campuses.The ally of President Donald Trump toured campuses across the country holding debates with students to “push back against left-wing indoctrination in academia.”But the Christian nationalist and fierce defender of traditional family values faced accusations of homophobia and racism and had many enemies.”If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like ‘Boy, I hope he is qualified,'” Kirk said on a podcast in 2024, causing an outcry.At Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed on Wednesday, students condemned the shooting. But even in one of the most conservative, Trump-backing US states, some also called the right-wing youth activist’s rhetoric dangerous. While no culprit has been identified more than a day after the murder, Utah’s Republican governor has called the shooting a “political assassination”.- ‘Spokesman for our generation’ -Computer science student Carson Caines said Kirk was “a martyr of free speech.””He was a huge spokesman for our generation,” Caines, 23, told AFP.Caines, a Mormon, admitted feeling livid at Kirk’s killing, but realized that aggression was not the answer.”I think, like a lot of people, my first initial reaction was like, wanting to do something physical about it,” Caines said. “But I refuse to feed this cycle of violence.”Instead, Caines says he will join Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA. The group bused youth activists to Washington for the January 6, 2021 rally, which turned into a riot and the storming of the US Capitol.Alexander, another student at the university, lamented that Kirk’s death would only deepen animosity and polarization in the United States.”I hear a lot of people saying he was an extremist. But in the right-wing community, he’s one of the more moderate voices out there,” Alexander, who would not give his last name, told AFP. “Killing him is only going to make it worse and increase the divide between Americans.”Alexander, who supports gun ownership and is against abortion, says he and fellow-minded Americans have felt ostracized and silenced by those on the left.”In the past decade, I think anyone who leans conservative has had to censor their beliefs, even basic ones like being pro-family or pro-Second Amendment, in order to avoid public backlash,” the 23-year-old added, referring to the Constitutional right to bear arms.  “Cancel culture has gone crazy,” he said. “This killing is a cultural artifact, I think, of everything that happened during the last decade or so.”

New York star Aaron Judge homered twice to tie Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio for fourth on the club’s all-time list on Thursday in a game attended by President Donald Trump on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.Judge homered in each of his first two at-bats against the Detroit Tigers, collecting the 360th and 361st of his career.Ahead of him on the storied franchise’s all-time homers list are Babe Ruth, who hit 659 of his 714 as a Yankee, along with Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493).A pre-game ceremony honored victims of the attacks as well as first responders.Trump, who received a mix of cheers and boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd, had visited the Yankees in the clubhouse before the game, telling them, “You’re gonna win.”Trump is the first sitting president to attend a game at Yankee Stadium since game three of the 2001 World Series, when President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch.The White House had confirmed earlier this week that Trump would attend the game. After his appearance at the US Open tennis men’s final caused long waits for security, the Yankees opened the gates early and advised fans to be prepared for extra security measures.Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the contest that he was looking forward to Trump’s attendance.”I’ve had the honor and fortune of (seeing) some presidents over the years, first pitches or whatever it may be, so the fact that he’s going to be here is something that I’m excited to be a part of,” Boone said.

President Donald Trump urged supporters Thursday to respond peacefully to the killing of right-wing campaigner Charlie Kirk, as the murderer continued to evade a manhunt more than 24 hours after a shooting that put an already divided United States on edge.Trump, who soon after the killing angrily pledged a wide-ranging response against the “radical left,” told reporters that Kirk had been “an advocate of nonviolence.””That’s the way I’d like to see people respond,” he said.Kirk, a 31-year-old superstar on the Republican right who harnessed surging youth support for Trump, was shot while addressing a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.But a day later, authorities said the gunman remained at large.”Multiple leads are currently being investigated, but no suspect is in custody,” Utah law enforcement officials posted.”We’re doing everything we can to find him, and we’re not sure how far he has gone yet,” FBI Special Agent Robert Bohls said earlier.The FBI, which described the attack on Kirk as “targeted,” published photos of a young person it called “the potential shooter.”The pictures showed a man wearing a black baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and what appeared to be jeans, with a long-sleeved top emblazoned with a design that included an American flag.A reward of up to $100,000 was posted for information leading to his capture.Police say they believe the shooter fired a single bullet from a rooftop up to 200 yards (180 meters), hitting Kirk in the neck.A high-powered bolt-action rifle was recovered in a wooded area.- ‘Dark moment’ -Reflecting the highly political nature of the killing, Kirk’s coffin was transported to his home city of Phoenix on JD Vance’s official plane.Footage showed the vice president with his hands on the casket as it was carried to Air Force 2.Kirk’s widow, Erika, held hands with Vance’s wife as they got off the plane in Arizona, the headquarters of the powerful Turning Point USA.The right wing mediasphere remained in a state of heightened emotion Thursday, with Fox News contributors recounting the impact Kirk had on their lives.Conspiracy theories ricocheted around the internet, while calls for a return to civility vied with those demanding vengeance.”THIS IS WAR” wrote the popular right-wing X account of @LibsofTikTOK.Fox News host Jesse Watters on Wednesday said the killing showed his side of the political spectrum was under attack.”Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us. And what are we going to do about it?” he asked his audience.- ‘Martyr’ for the right -Students at the Utah Valley University on Thursday described the shock, and their broader fears as political divisions deepen across the country.Dave Sanchez told AFP witnessing the killing made him “sick to my stomach.”We watch him all the time and so it really does feel like one of your own family members, your own brother’s been killed,” said Sanchez, 26.Kirk, who supporters have hailed as a “martyr” for conservative ideals, had an outsized influence in US politics.He co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 to drive conservative viewpoints among young people, with his natural showmanship making him a go-to spokesman on television networks.Kirk used his enormous audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for anti-immigration policies, outspoken Christianity and gun ownership, and to spread carefully edited clips of his interactions during debates at his many college events.Three months ago, a Minnesota man shot dead a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in their home, and Trump survived an assassination attempt during his election campaign in July 2024.

With a fire hose of misinformation surrounding the assassination of US right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, social media users have turned to AI chatbots for reliable updates — only to encounter contradictory or inaccurate responses, further fueling online confusion.The trend highlights how chatbots often generate confident responses, even when verified information is unavailable during fast-developing news events, energizing misinformation across platforms that have largely scaled back human fact-checking and content moderation.A day after Kirk, a 31-year-old prominent ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally gunned down at a university in Utah, the X account of AI chatbot Perplexity falsely stated that the activist was never shot and was “still alive,” according to the watchdog NewsGuard.When posts containing an authentic video of Kirk being shot swirled online, the X account of Grok — Elon Musk’s AI chatbot — stated that it was a satirical clip.”The video is a meme edit — Charlie Kirk is debating, and effects make it look like he’s ‘shot’ mid-sentence for comedic effect. No actual harm; he’s fine and active as ever,” Grok wrote.Grok also falsely claimed that a Utah-based registered Democrat named Michael Mallinson had been identified as the shooter, wrongly attributing the information to major news outlets such as CNN and the New York Times.Mallinson, in reality a 77-year-old retired Canadian banker living in Toronto, said he was “shocked” by thousands of social media posts that labeled him the culprit.Breaking news events often spark a frantic search for new information on social media, frequently leading to false conclusions that chatbots then regurgitate, contributing to further online chaos.The tide of misinformation comes amid a volatile environment in the United States following Kirk’s assassination, with many right-wing influencers from Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) political base calling for violence and “retribution” against the left.The motives of the gunman involved in the shooting — who remains at large — are unknown.- ‘Liar’s dividend’ -Meanwhile, some conspiracy theorists have baselessly claimed that the video showing Kirk being shot was AI-generated, asserting that the entire incident was staged.The assertion underscores how the rise of cheap and widely available AI tools has given misinformation peddlers a handy incentive to cast doubt about the authenticity of real content –- a tactic researchers have dubbed as the “liar’s dividend.””We have analyzed several of the videos (of Kirk’s shooting) circulating online and find no evidence of manipulation or tampering,” said Hany Farid, the co-founder of GetReal Security and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.Farid also reported seeing some AI-generated videos.”This is an example of how fake content can muddy the waters and in turn cast doubt on legitimate content,” he said. The falsehoods underline how facts are increasingly under assault in a misinformation-filled internet landscape, an issue exacerbated by public distrust of institutions and traditional media.It has exposed an urgent need for stronger AI detection tools, experts say, as major tech platforms have largely weakened safeguards by reducing investment in human fact-checking.Researchers say chatbots have previously made errors verifying information related to other crises such as the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East, the recent India-Pakistan conflict and anti-immigration protests in Los Angeles.A recent audit by NewsGuard found that 10 leading AI chatbots repeated false information on controversial news topics at nearly double the rate compared to one year ago.”A key factor behind the increased fail rate is the growing propensity for chatbots to answer all inquiries, as opposed to refusing to answer certain prompts,” NewsGuard said in a report last week.”The Large Language Models (LLMs) now pull from real-time web searches — sometimes deliberately seeded by vast networks of malign actors.”

US President Donald Trump and other officials paid tribute to slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on Thursday as the country marked the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.Kirk was a “giant of his generation,” and a “champion of liberty,” Trump said at the beginning of his remarks during a 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon, which was one of the targets of the Al-Qaeda attacks that sparked two decades of deadly conflict.The US president announced that he would soon posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the country’s highest civilian honor.Speaking at the same ceremony, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “like those on 9/11, you will never be forgotten.”Kirk — a close ally of Trump — was shot in the neck while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.Vice President JD Vance canceled a trip to New York for 9/11 commemorations so he could meet with Kirk’s grieving family in Utah.Later on Thursday, Trump traveled to his hometown of New York to attend a baseball game at Yankee Stadium, where he received both cheers and boos from the crowd.Memorial events for 9/11 were held at Ground Zero in Manhattan where the World Trade Center’s twin towers were destroyed in coordinated attacks that also saw a jetliner crashed into the Pentagon.Another jet crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside when passengers overran the hijacker and took control of the aircraft. – ‘Same hate’ – Several mayoral candidates took part in commemorations in New York that marked a brief respite from a bitter battle to be the city’s next leader.Two days ago, former governor and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo criticized his Democratic rival Zohran Mamdani for giving an interview to a left-wing streamer who had said in 2019 that the United States deserved 9/11. Cuomo said it showed that Mamdani does not deserve to be mayor.Mamdani’s campaign hit back that “to suggest that Zohran Mamdani — who is poised to become New York’s first Muslim mayor — somehow supported 9/11” is “vile” and “dangerous.”Mamdani holds a 22-point lead in the race, according to the latest polling from The New York Times and Siena.Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams tied the killing of Kirk with 9/11 on Thursday, saying: “It’s the same hate that drove two planes into the World Trade Center that drove a bullet through the neck of Charlie Kirk.””That assassination cut at the heart of what we are as Americans,” Adams said.”If we don’t pause for a moment on 9/11 to state that we’re better than that as Americans, we’re better than that as human beings, then we’re going to find ourselves in a dark place.”New York marked a citywide moment of silence at 8:46 am (1246 GMT), when hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center 24 years ago.Places of worship across the city then sounded their bells to mark the impact as families of the victims read the names of those killed at ground zero. The official death toll was 2,977 including the passengers and crew of the four hijacked planes, victims in the twin towers, firefighters and personnel at the Pentagon. The death toll excludes the 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers. 

France and Germany moved to bolster defence of Polish airspace Thursday as the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting to discuss Warsaw’s accusation that Moscow launched a drone raid on its territory.Poland branded the incident, which prompted Polish and NATO forces to shoot down several drones overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, a deliberate “unprecedented” attack on the country, NATO and the European Union.Moscow denied targeting the country and said there was no evidence the drones were Russian. The drones intruded as Russia unleashed a barrage of strikes across Ukraine as part of an ongoing offensive there following its 2022 invasion.US President Donald Trump, who has been trying unsuccessfully to broker a halt to the war in Ukraine, told reporters on Thursday that the alleged incursion may have happened by “mistake”.But Polish President Karol Nawrocki warned Thursday during a visit to an airbase in western Poland that the incident was “an attempt to test the mechanism of action within NATO and our readiness to respond”.Germany said it would “extend and expand” its participation in NATO’s Air Policing programme, to provide more cover to Polish airspace.Its defence ministry said it would double the number of Eurofighter jets deployed to four and extend their mission by three months to the end of the year.And French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a post on X that France would “deploy three Rafale fighter jets to contribute to the protection of Polish airspace and of NATO’s Eastern Flank together with our Allies.”The UN Security Council’s South Korean presidency announced Thursday it would hold an emergency meeting to discuss Warsaw’s claim of a “violation of Polish airspace by Russia”.It will take place on Friday at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).- Border security boosted -Stray Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members including Poland several times since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Polish officials said on this occasion drones violated its airspace 19 times. There were no casualties and the damage was limited — a house and a car were destroyed.Poland’s National Security Council met Thursday and the defence minister was expected to brief parliament on the latest findings.Poland boosted its security Thursday, closing air traffic along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine to civilian flights up to an altitude of three kilometres (1.9 miles) until December 9.The PAZP air traffic control agency announced that drones would also be banned.The country had already announced ramped-up measures on the Belarus border to cope with military drills the country is carrying out with its ally Russia between September 12 and 16. The few open border crossings with Belarus were to be closed from Friday due to the Zapad (“West”) drills.Reacting to the closure, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement urged Poland “to consider the consequences of such destructive steps and to review its decision as soon as possible”.The border closure was to “justify a policy of further escalating tensions in the centre of Europe”, she added.- ‘Reckless’: NATO -Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Wednesday that the drone raid marked an unprecedented escalation of tension with Russia.Tusk called a NATO meeting on Wednesday, invoking Article 4 under which a member can convene urgent talks when it feels its “territorial integrity, political independence or security” are at risk — only the eighth time the measure has been used.A cornerstone of NATO is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all.NATO chief Mark Rutte denounced Moscow’s “reckless behaviour” while hailing his organisation’s response. The alliance’s air defences had done their job, he told journalists.The European Union and Ukraine condemned the incident on Wednesday, and several European countries followed on Thursday.In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news briefing China “hopes that all parties concerned will properly resolve their disputes through dialogue and consultation”.China has never denounced Russia’s war in Ukraine.Poland is a major supporter of Ukraine and hosts more than one million Ukrainian refugees. It is also a key transit point for Western humanitarian and military aid to the country.

The wildly popular Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny says he will skip the United States during an upcoming world tour because he fears raids by immigration agents at his concerts.Since July the singer has been playing to sold-out shows in San Juan, capital of the US territory in the Caribbean.He will kick off his “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” (I Should Have Taken More Photos) international tour, which will take him to Latin America, Australia, Japan and Europe, starting in November.The artist said he will not perform shows in the United States, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have arrested tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of them Latinos, under a crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.”There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate. I’ve performed there many times,” he told the British magazine i-D in an interview published Wednesday.Bad Bunny said his shows this summer in Puerto Rico have been very successful and he enjoyed meeting Latinos who have lived in the continental United States.He said the problem is “ICE could be outside” US concert venues, using an expletive to describe the agency. “And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”In June, Bad Bunny posted video footage on his social media channels from an ICE raid that took place on his home island.Since Trump took office in January for a second term, the number of undocumented immigrants detained in police raids has reached record highs.In June, there were 60,254 such arrests in the United States, a record for that month, compared with 40,500 arrests in January 2025 before Trump returned to the White House, according to an AFP analysis of government data.   In Puerto Rico, where ICE also operates, 500 immigrants, mainly from the nearby Dominican Republic, were arrested in the first four months of Trump’s second term, an ICE official, Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos, said in an interview on National Public Radio.

Radical violence. Immigration raids. White supremacists. Leonardo DiCaprio’s politically charged new movie “One Battle After Another” could scarcely be more timely. Part-action, part-drama, with plenty of comedy and almost guaranteed a bagful of Oscar nominations, the film centers on an ageing revolutionary and his teenage daughter.It delivers a lesson on “what this next generation is going to have to deal with,” DiCaprio told a press conference Thursday.DiCaprio plays Bob, a political insurgent who specializes in explosives. The movie begins as he conducts undercover resistance operations at the US-Mexico border with his lover and co-conspirator, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor).But when villainous Sean Penn’s Colonel Lockjaw infiltrates the group, Bob is forced to flee with their infant Willa. Sixteen years later, the bulk of the story finds Bob’s outlaw history catching up with him and his now-adolescent daughter.Lockjaw is in hot pursuit, happy to order arbitrary immigration crackdowns on the community where he believes his target is hiding.The problem is, Bob has spent that time frying his brain with drugs and alcohol — and can’t remember the first thing about being a revolutionary.”I love the idea that you expect this character’s going to use massive espionage skills, but he cannot remember the password,” said DiCaprio. “His past is coming back to haunt him, and now it’s passed on to the next generation, a sort of trauma.”- ‘Politically charged’ -The film, out September 26 in the United States, comes from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, the auteur behind “There Will Be Blood,” “Magnolia,” “Boogie Nights” and “Licorice Pizza.”Reviews are under embargo, but immediate reaction from critics on social media has been effusive in praise. It is already seen as a clear frontrunner for best picture at the Academy Awards.Penn’s character is embroiled with a group of white supremacists called the Christmas Adventurers — a setup that provides comedy as well as darkness.”Well, they became less ludicrous even since we’ve shot the film. I see the culture adapting to take it all straight,” Penn earlier told the New York Times.DiCaprio told the same newspaper that the movie “is politically charged, but I think it has a lot to do with how tribal we’ve all become.” The film dissects “how we have stopped listening to one another, and how these characters thinking or acting in these extremes can bring a lot of hurt,” said the actor.The Times interview was conducted several weeks before the fatal shooting of right-wing US activist Charlie Kirk.”I hope that this movie really creates a lot of healthy dialog and a lot of necessary conversations that need to be had,” Taylor told Thursday’s press conference.- ‘Blast’ -By his own admission, Anderson “stole” the concept of “what happens when revolutionaries scatter” from the Thomas Pynchon novel “Vineland.”Anderson previously adapted Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice” for the screen. But this time the inspiration is much looser.”Rather than be respectful of the book like I did with ‘Inherent Vice,’ I just kind of took what I needed… and just started running with it,” Anderson told a Los Angeles special screening attended by AFP.DiCaprio, playing an atypically shabby and disheveled, paranoid hero, drew inspiration from “The Big Lebowski,” as well as Al Pacino’s character in “Dog Day Afternoon.””The humanity of the character, in a strange way — an incredibly flawed protagonist” appealed to DiCaprio.”It was a blast to make the movie.”

A decades-old book of cheerful, often lewd birthday messages has set off a political bomb in Washington — helping bring down the British ambassador and inflaming the most perilous scandal of Donald Trump’s presidency.Compiled to celebrate Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, the three-volume book had remained secret for years.But his estate handed it over this week to Congress, which swiftly made its 238 pages public, offering a vivid window into the late sex offender’s well-connected world.Frequently referring to his playboy lifestyle, it also renewed long-running questions about what his elite associates knew of his alleged criminal activity with underage girls.The scandal proved too much for Peter Mandelson, a top British political operator fired Thursday from his prestigious post as ambassador to the United States.A 10-page entry allegedly submitted by Mandelson includes photos from his time with “best pal” Epstein in a tropical locale, apparently the financier’s notorious private island in the Caribbean.Epstein would sometimes disappear, “leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead,” says a note, along with a photo of two women whose faces are obscured.British media then published emails from Mandelson, in which he offers support to Epstein after his 2008 conviction for procuring an underaged girl for prostitution, ultimately leading to his ouster.Other VIPs are peppered throughout. The most famous among them: Trump.- Political nightmare -For the 79-year-old Republican, the Epstein scandal is a political nightmare that refuses to die.Democrats have pounced since July, when Trump’s administration confirmed Epstein’s 2019 death was a suicide and deemed the release of more case files unnecessary — despite previously fanning conspiracies among fellow Republicans about a coverup.Trump now dismisses the saga as a Democratic “hoax.”However, under pressure from their own right-wing base, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives launched an investigation.That brought the birthday book to light, including Trump’s alleged note: a type-written message inserted into the sketched outline of a nude woman — with his signature for pubic hair.”May every day be another wonderful secret,” it reads.Trump and his allies claim the signature is fake. However, it bears striking resemblance to other documents he signed during the period.While the Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the existence of the letter — prompting Trump to file a $10 billion defamation suit — another note alluding to the president appears.”Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted name] to Donald Trump,” reads the note, allegedly from businessman Joel Paschow, a longtime member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.The text accompanies a photo of Epstein holding an oversized check marked “DJ Trump.” Next to him is a woman who has been identified in US media as someone who dated both Trump and Epstein in the 1990s.The page before includes a sketch of Epstein handing little girls balloons in 1983, then several topless women massaging him in 2003 — apparently a joking reference to his grooming of underage women.- Other VIPs -The book features a bevy of other prominent people.Ahead of Trump’s alleged letter is a poem from Stuart Pivar, a wealthy chemist and art collector, lightheartedly remarking that Epstein was “up to no good” but had thus far “avoided the penitentiary.”Next up is a note from Harvard economist Henry Rosovsky, who died in 2022.”For the man who has almost everything, but never enough of these!” it reads, followed by two painted prints of breasts.A note allegedly from famed private equity investor Leon Black refers to a “Maxwellian delight.”This refers to Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who compiled the birthday book, and is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls.Also included is a note from French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel, who would later be arrested in France on rape charges and whose 2022 prison death was also ruled suicide.Trump isn’t the only president to appear.A note from former president Bill Clinton praises Epstein’s “childlike curiosity” at 50.

Two people misidentified online as suspects in the fatal shooting of right-wing US activist Charlie Kirk told AFP Thursday they were terrified by the misinformation targeting them, as the manhunt for the real killer continued.Michaela, who asked to be identified by her first name due to safety concerns, told AFP she became “really scared” as she was inundated with hate-filled messages and threats after her image circulated in posts that falsely named her as the shooter.”I’m getting witch-hunted online,” she said. “Some people want to enact vigilante justice on me.”The 29-year-old transgender woman told AFP she spent the day Wednesday in the state of Washington, where she lives and works as a paralegal. She said she has only been to Utah once, for an overnight stop in Moab while moving from Texas in May, and is not a student at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot.Screenshots shared with AFP of her bank transactions and iPhone location history confirm she was in Washington when Kirk was killed.Her roommate also corroborated her location, calling the rumors “insane.”- ‘Fits their narrative’ -Misinformation proliferates rapidly after major breaking news events, and transgender people have become a common scapegoat after US mass shootings.The high-profile assassination of Kirk, a polarizing figure with a massive following, kicked the search for information into overdrive. Multiple out-of-context visuals quickly spread online.In Michaela’s case, her profile image appears to have been erroneously linked to Kirk’s shooting because it was indexed in searches for another X user who posted about the Turning Point USA founder’s visit Wednesday to Utah Valley University. The user, whom Michaela said she does not know, had previously shared one of Michaela’s posts earlier in the week.”People on the right wing, obviously they want a shooter, and a trans person fits their narrative,” she said. “It’s pretty surreal to see how quickly it happened.”The FBI released pictures of a person of interest Thursday and also said the presumed murder weapon had been found, after two people taken into custody were later released.On Instagram, Michaela has frantically sought to clarify she is not a suspect and did not author the posts about Kirk’s Utah event. She has also contacted the FBI.But her picture has rocketed across social media, boosted by prominent accounts that have promoted Russian disinformation and the QAnon conspiracy theory.In direct messages reviewed by AFP, several people threatened to kill her, often using explicit language or anti-LGBTQ slurs.”You better watch out because we’re coming for you,” one message said.- Misidentified suspects -Across the border in Canada, another man was dealing with similar harassment.Michael Mallinson, a 77-year-old retired banker from Toronto, posted an article from a US fact-checking outlet on his LinkedIn “to set the record straight” after X users wrongly matched his photos to footage of a man who was initially apprehended by police.The hoax had started with an account impersonating a local news station in Nevada.Mallinson told AFP he learned of the misinformation about him when his daughter called in a panic, pleading that he delete his social media accounts to protect himself. She had received what he described as a “very nasty message” on Facebook.On X, hundreds more spiteful comments had been left under a photo he uploaded in May.”I have absolutely nothing to do with this,” Mallinson said, explaining that he has never been to Utah and had not heard of Kirk before yesterday. “I was horrified and shocked.”Mallinson said he deactivated his accounts, alerted police and has been emailing his friends and relatives the truth.”It’s my image, it’s my name, but it’s not me, and I don’t really know what to do,” he said. “I worry about longer-term ramifications. That stuff stays on social media forever.”