On Tuesday, May 24, a gunman fatally shot 19 children and two fourth-grade teachers at a Texas elementary school before he was killed by law enforcement officers
The shooter carried out the murderous rampage at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The incident was the most deadly school shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place in December 2012.
ABC News Accused of Altering Ramos' Photo
When law enforcement officials identified the Uvalde, Texas, school shooter as an 18-year-old man named Salvador Ramos, they also released his photo. Social media user @vrosen11, who describes herself as a "proud conservative," claimed that ABC News and its show Good Morning America used an altered image of the shooter in an attempt to make him look more Caucasian.
"ABC News altered Salvador Ramos's photo to appear more Caucasian Real photo of the Uvalde Texas shooter (right) vs photo posted by @abcnews @GMA (left)," the now-deleted tweet read.
The user shared side-by-side images of a legitimate photo of Ramos alongside what the user claimed was the "altered" photo of man with lighter skin and different facial features published by ABC News.
Fact-Check: False
Fact-checking website PolitiFact received confirmation from ABC News that it did not publish any manipulated images of Ramos on any of its programs. Also, there was no evidence of an edited photo being used in any tweets or reports published by the network or Good Morning America.
Rather, it appears that the altered image in this post was pasted over a screenshot of an authentic May 24 tweet from ABC News about the shooting.
Therefore, we can confirm that the tweet claiming that ABC News or Good Morning America did not digitally alter or manipulate the image of the Ulvade, Texas, school shooter to make him appear more Caucasian. Not only did ABC News deny the claim but there was also zero evidence to suggest that that the news outlet published any such tweet or report. The tweet that made the claim was also removed by Twitter for spreading misinformation.
