Charlie Kirk Murder: Online 'Witch Hunt' Begins, Several Innocents Accused

Michaela, who asked to be identified by her first name only for security reasons, said she was "very scared" when she was inundated with hateful messages and threats after her photo was shared in posts falsely identifying her as the shooter. "I'm the victim of an online witch hunt," she said.

Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old Trump youth leader, was shot in the neck on Wednesday while attending a rally in front of about 3,000 people at a university in Utah, in the western United States.

Michaela, a 29-year-old transgender woman, claims to have spent Wednesday in Washington State, where she works as a legal assistant, which AFP was able to verify thanks in part to the location of her cell phone and statements from her roommate.

Her photo appears to have been wrongly linked to Charlie Kirk's murder, as it was linked to an X-rated account that had called for the influencer to be "disappeared" during his visit to Utah. Michaela claimed not to know this user.

Her photo spread quickly on social media, where it was shared by influential accounts sharing conspiracy theories. Several people threatened to kill her in private messages seen by AFP. "You better watch out, because we're coming for you," read one of these messages, often accompanied by anti-LGBT+ insults.

“Right-wingers obviously want a shooter, and a trans person fits their narrative,” Michaela said. “It’s still crazy how quickly this happened,” she added. Michael Mallinson, a 77-year-old Canadian retiree, faced similar harassment after porn users misidentified him as someone initially apprehended by police in connection with the Charlie Kirk murder investigation.

Michael Mallinson said he was alerted to the misinformation when his daughter called him in a panic, begging him to delete his social media accounts after receiving a violent Facebook message. "I had absolutely nothing to do with this," Mallinson said, adding that he had never been to Utah and had never heard of Charlie Kirk before.