Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Crime & justice fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about crime & justice. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

6,857 published reviews in this topic

PolitiFactCrime & justice

“Austin mass shooter still at large, but media won’t provide description because he’s Black.”

Publisher’s rating: False

Research from related reporting identifies the incident as a shooting near Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin and reports that responding police killed the suspect. CNN’s account, republished by Kent State’s student newspaper, says Austin police identified the suspected gunman as Ndiaga Diagne and reports that officers shot and killed him at the scene. A separate account also says officers killed the shooter. These reports contradict the claim’s assertion that the shooter was still at large. The excerpts do not establish that news organizations withheld a description because the suspect was Black. They identify Diagne by name and describe clothing reported by a law-enforcement official, including a hoodie reading “Property of Allah” and a shirt with an Iranian flag design. The supplied reporting therefore supports a conclusion about the suspect’s status and identification, but not the claim’s allegation about race as the reason for media coverage.