Right-Wingers Push Lie That Philly Shooting Suspect Was Trans BLM Supporter

Right-wing politicians, media, and activists are pushing a false claim that the suspect in Monday’s mass shooting in Philadelphia is transgender and politically liberal.

“Gunman Arrested for Philadelphia Mass Shooting That Left 5 Dead Is BLM Activist Who Wore Women’s Clothes: Sources,” trumpeted a headline in the New York Post.The conservative tabloid went on to note that suspect Kimbrady Carriker had two pictures on his Facebook page of him wearing a brassiere and other female-appearing clothing and that he had posts that supported Black Lives Matter. Anti-LGBTQ+ Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted “another trans shooter” and shared an article from Post Millennial,a far-right blog, with information similar to the Post’s. Chaya Raichik, who runs the anti-trans Libs of TikTok, tweeted, “The mass shooter in Philadelphia is trans.”

However, it’s not true. “There was some confusion initially about Mr. Carriker’s gender identity, and in a news conference on Tuesday, authorities used the pronouns ‘they/them’ to describe him,” The New York Times reports. “But on Wednesday, officials from the district attorney’s office said they had no information indicating that the suspect considered himself anything but male.”

Carriker, 40, was arrested Monday night after the shooting that killed five people, ranging in age from 15 to 59, and injured two in Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood. He was formally charged Wednesday “on more than 30 counts, including murder, attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment,” according to the Times. He is being held without bail and will appear in court again July 24.

Vice News reviewed Carriker’s Facebook account, since deleted, and found nothing to imply he is trans beyond the two pictures cited by the Post, and only a single image referring to Black Lives Matter. The review also “suggests he was more concerned about stopping gun control legislation than about Black Lives Matter,” Vice News reports.

He accused President Joe Biden of wanting to take away rights to gun ownership, and he posted “Who supports Trump in 2024” with a picture of an American flag bearing the words “God, Guns & Trump.”

The New Republic further notes that Republicans are “ignoring the fact that Carriker repeatedly posted online about his support for the Second Amendment and former President Donald Trump.”

Far-right activists similarly attempted to smear trans people with reports that Audrey Hale, who shot and killed six people at Covenant School in Nashville in March, was trans. Hale, who died in a shootout with police, may well have been trans, according to local officials, but it’s unknown if Hale’s identity had anything to do with the attack. And cisgender white men form the overwhelming majority of mass shooters in the U.S.