Cobb GOP Official's Video Calls Florida Shooting Fake

MARIETTA, GA — A Cobb County Republican Party official shared a video on social media that claims the deadly school shooting in Florida was a politically motivated fake, according to media reports.

11 Alive News reports that Michael Davis, a vice chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, shared the video to Facebook. Originally uploaded by someone from Athens, Greece, the video shows students at Broward County schools in Florida taking part in what the station said was active-shooter training.

The post goes on to claim the video actually shows students in Parkland, Fla., "rehearsing" before "the fake shooting aired by NBC," 11 Alive reports. The post included the hashtag #CrisisActors and #FalseFlag — terms used by conspiracy theorists who believe violent incidents have been staged in order to cast guns in a negative light.

The post was not publicly visible Wednesday on Davis's Facebook page, which features multiple pro-gun rights posts — including one that suggests the suspect in the Florida shooting, Nikolas Cruz, could not have been the real shooter and another that suggests anti-depression drugs cause school shootings and other violent incidents.

When 11 Alive attempted to contact Davis through the county Republican Party, its chairman, Jason Shepherd, responded with a statement claiming that students calling for gun-control legislation in the wake of the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are being led by liberal political groups.

"Maybe 11Alive should focus on the fact these so-called 'student lead' protests are anything but with left winged organizations from the ACLU to the SCLC just in Cobb County ...," Shepherd said in the statement. "If a school district opens the door to one, then under Equal Protection they must allow any group of students to stage walkouts. What will this do to education in America?"

According to 11 Alive, Shepherd's response did not address a question about whether the Cobb County Republican Party agrees with the suggestion that the Parkland shooting was faked.

In all, 17 students, teachers and coaches were killed in last month's shooting. Next Wednesday, on the shooting's one-month anniversary, students across the nation plan to protest loose gun regulations by leaving their classrooms at 10 a.m. for 17 minutes — one minute for each life taken at the school.

Cobb County Schools already have said they do not endorse the walkout and that any students who take part could face disciplinary action. According to the national event's website, there are participants planning to take part at Cobb County schools, including Campbell, Kennesaw Mountain, Harrison, Sprayberry, Walton and Pope high schools.

On Davis's Facebook page, some people were calling him out in emotional terms for spreading claims that the deadly shooting was fake.

"You are an embarrassment to the GOP party," one Facebook user wrote. "I will be calling for your resignation along with thousands of other people! The victims have already gone through enough and then they have to deal with scum like you?! Sad!"

Read the original 11 Alive story here.

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