Fake accounts. Out of context quotes. Misleading posts. A flurry of misinformation fueled a social media narrative that the suspect in last week’s mass shooting at a Georgia high school was transgender and was motivated by a lack of trans societal acceptance.

This is false.

The 14-year-old accused of killing two teachers and two students instead expressed frustration that transgender people were being accepted in society, according to a Sept. 6 CNN article.

The statement was found in a Discord chat from an account that the FBI linked to the suspect, leading police to question him and his father in May 2023.

Riley Gaines, an American swimmer and political activist, posted a screenshot on X to her 1.2 million followers of an earlier version of CNN’s article. She said the suspect’s “likely motive” was frustration with a lack of acceptance of transgender people.

She later deleted the post and blamed CNN for her misunderstanding. Although confusion like Gaines’ prompted CNN to update the wording in the story, neither version of the article supported her initial claims.

Fake X accounts were created to impersonate the suspect, with one featuring “she/her/they” pronouns and a bio that expressed support for Vice President Kamala Harris.

No major news outlets or authorities have confirmed these accounts are authentic or that the suspect is transgender.

When cutting through the noise, the narrative that most mass shooters are transgender is untrue.

Transgender suspects accounted for 0.11% of all mass shootings in the last decade, the Gun Violence Archive told Reuters last year.

More records show the Discord account police linked to the suspect posted a photo of a family holding signs showing support for their trans daughter, according to The Washington Post.

“let me give you an example of why I’m doing this,” the user wrote. “I need to put an end to that. … im on the edge of a lgbtq massacre.”

The user received support in the chat from others, who responded with messages like “Do it.”

When police questioned the suspect and his father about the messages last May, both denied they were associated with the account, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

Discord said in a statement that it shut down an account associated with the suspect on May 21 last year and cooperated with law enforcement to provide the information they requested.