False: The Michigan State University shooting suspect is Lynn Dee Walker.

By: Gayathri Loka
February 17 2023

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Context 

Three people were killed and five wounded in a shooting at Michigan State University's (MSU) main campus on February 14, 2023. Since the incident, many Twitter posts claimed that someone named Lynn Dee Walker was the perpetrator of the shooting. One such tweet shared a photograph of a man with brown hair with the caption, "#BREAKING: Michigan State University SHOOTING SUSPECT is 21 year old 'Lynn Dee Walker,' according to dispatch audio. He is still on the loose and considered armed and dangerous." The pictures of the man went viral, and soon the theory that the suspect was "Lynn Dee Walker," the man in the photo, spread on social media.

In Fact 

MSU Police announced on February 14 that the suspect behind the shooting was a "short male with a mask, possibly Black." In another update a few hours later, the police tweeted, "The suspect has been located off campus. It appears he has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There is no longer a threat to campus, and the shelter-in-place has been lifted."

The photos used to depict "Lynn Dee Walker" are actually of an author who goes by the name Logo Daedalus on social media and YouTube. He also responded to the false claims from his own Twitter account, @Logo_Daedalus, on February 14, saying, "I am at my house in western Massachusetts reading with my wife." He also asked people to report and delete tweets that used his photographs to claim that he was the suspect. 

Many social media posts which identified "Lynn Dee Walker" as the suspect have been taken down following the clarifications from the MSU police, including one by a person who claims he made the original claim. However, several posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms continue to spread the false claim. 

MSU police said investigators had no information about the motive and that the University was unaware of any threats, Reuters reported. Investigations regarding the shooting and the suspect are still ongoing. The police have not released pictures or the name of the suspect. 

The Verdict 

According to police reports, the suspect in the recent MSU shooting is a 43-year-old black man who has been found dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. Walker is not the actual suspect, and the investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.