Misinformation abounds when it comes to the majority of the media’s portrayal of police officer-involved shootings. Anti-police activists have been peddling misinformation and lies ever since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri and subsequent officer-involved shootings across the country.
In the case of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the misinformation campaign was in full swing.
Local police officers confronted a knife-wielding man named Ricardo Munoz on September 13. Police were responding to reports of a domestic disturbance after which Munoz began to chase one of the responding officers with a knife.
A woman, who identified herself as Munoz’s sister, called police officers that afternoon and said that Munoz was aggressive with his mother and tried to break into her house. The caller said, “Her son is being very aggressive and he needs help, he has mental problems.”
Body camera footage showed Munoz running toward an officer with a knife until the officer fired his weapon. Munoz was between four to seven feet from the officer when the officer discharged his weapon.
But the facts surrounding the shooting were distorted to the point that unsubstantiated online rumors claimed that Munoz was an autistic boy, when in fact Munoz was an adult.
Agitators masquerading as protesters took to the streets of Lancaster and damaged a police station, a parked vehicle, and a U.S. Post Office building. The agitators piled up debris such as street signs, trash cans and other items and began a dumpster fire. The police arrested eight people and charged them with arson, institutional vandalism, riot, failure to disperse and obstructing highways and other public passages.
One month later, the district attorney’s office announced that the officer’s conduct was justified, given the circumstances where the officer could not de-escalate the situation due to Munoz’s erratic behavior.
As much as the Left and Black Lives Matter rail against online disinformation from conservatives, they are also a part of the problem.