Last night in Berkeley, Mo., protest erupted after 18-year-old Antonio Martin was shot and killed by police after reportedly pulling a gun on an officer.
A Twitter user claimed to have witnessed the shooting of his “best friend”:
https://twitter.com/DesJuanTheThug/status/547653424075276288
https://twitter.com/DesJuanTheThug/status/547660087037554688
The Huffington Post interviewed this person in a Twitter conversation, and they were told that Martin was unarmed and shot for refusing to get down on the ground, which they initially reported. Just one problem — the “witness” wasn’t even there:
I was misled and made a foolish error. Thank you all for pointing this out. I am correcting the story to reflect as much.
— Sebastian Murdock (@SebastianMurdoc) December 24, 2014
https://twitter.com/mpbaez12/status/547695779792433152
https://twitter.com/AllahandroD/status/547676405757394944/photo/1
By then the bogus version was already “out there” and will probably live on for a while.
@Slizzurpp_ @DesJuanTheThug ?? They on yo ass ?????????????????? pic.twitter.com/ow5qxybr6X
— APOLLOSOGODLY (@apollosogodly) December 24, 2014
https://twitter.com/farightofcenter/status/547734652635865088
https://twitter.com/wreckitrocketz/status/547704125883162624
https://twitter.com/DallasLurker/status/547693645046874112
Should pause when source says he's "Jesus Christo.": HuffPo gets it very wrong in St. Louis police shooting story http://t.co/MW6bVfGEYU
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) December 24, 2014
Probably not a great idea to quote a random Twitter user going by the handle ‘Jesus Christo’ http://t.co/3kL7KIgW3c
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) December 24, 2014
A message to HuffPo from their original “source”:
https://twitter.com/DesJuanTheThug/status/547686833505980417
Real journalism.
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