A school shooting in Perry, Iowa, on Thursday morning prompted some social media users to bring forth a conspiracy theory connected to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein court documents.
"Not even 24 hours after the Epstein court document was released we have multiple victims who were shot at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa. Make no mistake this is a false flag to distract the media from discussing anything in relation to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients," @ShadowofEzra wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "As more names will be released in the coming days we expect more serious distractions and false flags. All assets have been deployed."
Law enforcement officials confirmed that there were multiple victims sustaining gunshot wounds in the shooting at Perry High School. Police have not released much more information, but the Associated Press confirmed with an anonymous law enforcement source that the shooter had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
No information regarding a motive or the identities of those injured has been released. Police have yet to confirm the total number of victims. Newsweek previously on Thursday reached out to the Dallas County Sheriff's Office in Iowa and Perry Police Department for comment.
A day prior to the shooting, a trove of court documents relating to Epstein, a deceased convicted sex offender, and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, were released to the public. The documents included details of Epstein's activities and named several prominent figures, such as former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, ex-President Donald Trump and Stephen Hawking.
Shortly after the school shooting, several social media users questioned if it was a "false flag" to divert attention from the release of the Epstein documents.
"False Flag???? Buckle up," X user Warren Davis wrote.
Similarly, X user @MS_Sambo_ said, "24 hours after Epstein docs released we have multiple victims shot at Perry High School in Iowa. This may be a false flag to distract media from discussing anything about Epstein & clients. More names will be released & expect more serious distractions."
X user Caroline Orr Bueno shared a screenshot of several posts discussing the conspiracy theory and wrote, "So the disinformation narrative coming from the QAnon crowd is that the shooting at Perry High School is a false flag meant to cover up the Epstein documents that were released yesterday. They're copy/pasting the initial post from a QAnon influencer to flood search results."
Former FBI agent Tracy Walder also responded to the theories, saying: "This is disgusting, but important to know that disinformation is already out there regarding this. If you see it, report it."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
