Does a photo on social media show the Apalachee High School shooter? No, that's not true: The picture is instead from an active defense training program by Reflex Protect, a company specializing in safety preparedness. The image is not connected in any way to the deadly shooting that occurred on September 4, 2024, in Winder, Georgia, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.
The claim appeared in a post on Facebook on September 4, 2024. The post's caption said:
This is the Apalachee High School Shooter... and he's 14. Why do you believe we have 14 year olds shooting up their class mates here in America?
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Sep 4 21:06:37 2024 UTC)
Google search
Through a reverse image search with Google Lens (archived here), Lead Stories found the photo of the purported gunman in an active shooter/active threat training program by Reflex Protect.
Instead of being an actual high school shooter, the picture showed an example of "physical indicators" that could indicate an "active threat." The image used on social media appeared on page 15 of the 53-page Reflex Protect PDF (archived here):
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Sep 4 21:51:49 2024 UTC)
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At the time this was written, VERIFY had reviewed the same claim.
