Was Silas Kruger identified as the gunman in the shooting near the Emory University campus? No, that's not true: The gunman, who was killed at the scene, was officially identified as Patrick Joseph White by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the next day. Before the shooter's identity was made public, internet trolls used the breaking news event to post a false identification as part of a harassment campaign against someone who was not involved in the shooting.
A post on X (archived here) was published by @Bubblebathgirl on August 8, 2025. The post contains a photo of Silas Kruger and a video clip from a live CNN report. The post was captioned:
Emory University gunman identified as student Silas Kruger, who reportedly thought he got sick because of the COVID vaccine and was targeting the CDC. We all know why the ID and motive of Kruger was released so quickly. The gunman was white and anti-vax.
(Image source: Screenshot of @Bubblebathgirl post on X by Lead Stories)
On August 9, 2025, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation posted an update on X (embedded below) identifying the suspected shooter as Patrick Joseph White (archived here):
UPDATE - 8/9/2025:
-- GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) August 9, 2025
Patrick Joseph White, age 30, of Kennesaw, GA is the suspected shooter in the incident that occurred on Clifton Rd. near the Emory University campus. pic.twitter.com/PTJKne67Cw
The name and photo of Silas Kruger were never part of an official press release naming him as the shooter in the August 8, 2025, incident. A video made by Silas' father, Murray Kruger, posted on X (archived here) by @TheExposureTeam on August 8, 2025, explained that the Kruger family has been dealing with online harassment for years. Starting seven seconds into the video, Kruger states:
First off, Silas our son was not involved in anything down in Georgia at the tragedy at the Emory University. We are in Canada. Silas was at work all day today. He's as surprised as I am. We have been dealing with some trolls for years now off of Discord when he was younger playing games. We've kept it quiet. Recently they had just swatted us.
(Image source: Screenshot of @TheExposureTeam post on X by Lead Stories)
Kruger concludes the 1:04-minute-long video explaining that he had been in contact with police in Canada and in Georgia and they were opening cases with their respective cyber units.
