Once CNN released the name of alleged shooter Ryan Lanza (reports are now saying it was his brother), a mad media scramble ensued to look for this person’s social media profiles. One Facebook profile in particular seemed to fit the bill in that Ryan Lanza was listed as from Newtown, Connecticut (though listed as living in New Jersey).
Some media outlets began to show the profile picture, and there were even a bunch of fake Facebook pages that quickly popped up:
Shortly thereafter, reports came out that this was not the same Ryan Lanza. Gawker points to a couple of people who are allegedly Facebook friends of Lanza’s, who say it’s not him, sharing alleged screenshots (it has not been confirmed that these are authentic, to my knowledge) of Lanza’s profile, where he says things like:
“IT WASN”T ME I WAS AT WORK IT WASN’T ME,” “I’m on the bus home now it wasn’t me,” and “Everyone shut the fuck up it wasn’t me.” The profile has since disappeared from Facebook.
Facebook statuses from Ryan Lanza. #Newtownhttp://t.co/mRjHihqt
I’m FB friends with the profile being sent around. This is a real screen grab. http://t.co/YuEIdkW5
Another Ryan Lanza on Twitter assured everyone that it was not him either, despite recent tweets like “fuck parents” and “depression… fml…”
so aperently im getting spammed bc someone with the same name as me killed some ppl… wtf?
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