No evidence X account belonged to Georgia shooting suspect Colt Gray | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY

The claim: Image shows Georgia shooting suspect's X account

A Sept. 5 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of an account on X, formerly Twitter, under the name Colt Gray. The person in the account's profile picture is wearing a rainbow shirt with the word "Trans" on the front and a hat with Vice President Kamala Harris' name on it.

"Kamala 2024 end all MAGAts," reads the X account's description, which also includes a gun emoji. "She/her/they trans pride."

The caption on the Instagram post says, "If this is real then #ColtGray is another #TransgenderShooter."

A previous version of the claim on Instagram garnered more than 1,000 likes before it was deleted. Other versions of the claim were shared on Instagram and Threads.

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Our rating: False

There's no evidence the account belonged to the accused shooter. The account has a history of changing its profile picture, description and name. One iteration included the disclaimer, "This content is all fake and made up."

No evidence X account is linked to shooting suspect

Fourteen-year-old Colt Gray and his father appeared in court on Sept. 6 in connection with the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, that left four people dead. Gray faces four counts of felony murder and is being held without bond at a juvenile detention facility.

There's no evidence the X account shown in the Instagram post belonged to Gray.

Gray's mugshot, which was released on Sept. 6 by the Barrow County Sheriff's Office, doesn't appear to match the X account's profile picture.

There are also no credible media reports linking the account to the shooting suspect.

Fact check: Photo shows suspect in active shooter simulation, not Georgia school

Online archives show the X account has a history of changing aspects of its profile.

A version of the account archived on Sept. 4, the day of the shooting, included a profile picture of a different person under the name Colt Gray and a description with the words "MAGA" and "TRUMP 24."

A web archive captured Sept. 5 shows another iteration of the account existed under the name "S. Poster" and included a description that read, "Frequent tweet deleter. To any lawyers, journos, cops & the CIA: this content is all fake and made up."

The account as of Sept. 9 is under the name Mr. E and has another profile photo and the description "Professional sarcasm enthusiast/ TacoAddict/ Avid procrastinator."

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories and PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No evidence X account linked to Georgia shooting suspect | Fact check

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