Was the suspect in the September 2, 2026, Minneapolis mass shooting a transgender shooter, Samantha Hyde? No, that's not true: Multiple law enforcement sources told local news organizations that the suspect is 35-year-old Carlton Johnson. The circulating image of the suspected shooter is not authentic -- it displays multiple indicators of digital modification and appears to be a parody of the Sam Hyde meme that often follows high-profile shootings.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @Channel6ixNEWS account on X on Sept. 2, 2026. It opened:
BREAKING
Minneapolis Police have positively identified the corpse of the suspected shooter as 31 year old Samantha Hyde.
Social media posts indicate Samantha was a trans woman who previously went by the name Samuel
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @Channel6ixNEWS on X.)
Digital modification indicators
A close look at the image reveals signs that it was edited using face-modification filters or traditional image editing tools:
- Skin Smoothing and Blurring: The face has an unnaturally smooth, poreless appearance compared with the rest of the body.
- Hair Overlay: The blonde hair and bangs appear to have been digitally added over the original head shape. The edges where the hair meets the forehead and shoulders look blended rather than naturally falling on the shoulders.
- Altered Facial Structure: A feminizing filter appears to have softened the jawline and enlarged the eyes, causing slight distortions around the cheekbones and the edges of the glasses.
Sam Hyde
The image also shows the hallmarks of a Sam Hyde-inspired meme. As part of a long-running internet joke, the comedian is falsely blamed for nearly every mass shooting or other high-profile violent incident. The joke originated on 4chan (archived here) and has been perpetuated for years by various troll accounts. The joke often pairs Hyde's name with a photo (archived here) of him posing with a weapon, as seen here:
(Image source: post by @turboapa on X.)
The glasses, blonde hair, weapon, and woodland setting in the digitally edited Minneapolis shooter image make it a clear parody of the Sam Hyde meme.
Lead Stories' previous fact checks mentioning his name can be found here.
Lead Stories reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) to determine the name of the actual shooter and was referred to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). There was no immediate response from the BCA.
Shooting deaths
A shooting at a downtown Minneapolis apartment building on Sept. 2, 2026, left three people dead, including the suspect, and five others wounded, authorities said. The five people wounded by gunfire included two Minneapolis police officers, police Sgt. Garrett Parten said at a news conference (archived here).
Local news organizations, including The Minnesota Star Tribune, WCCO-TV and KMSP-TV (archived here, here and here) -- reported the name of the suspected shooter as Carlton Johnson.
