Thousands of Twitter Users Think These Images Prove ‘The Gun Was Planted’ on Antonio Martin
Not long after the fatal shooting of Antonio Martin by a St. Louis police officer Tuesday night, a series of images began making the Twitter rounds early Wednesday morning purporting to show the appearance of a handgun not present at the original scene.
Police said Wednesday morning that Martin had raised a 9-millimeter handgun at the officer, who then fired three times, striking Martin once — something they said was shown in a blurry surveillance video obtained from the gas station.
A subsection of Twitter detectives don’t buy the story and claim the handgun only appeared in images from a couple hours after the shooting.
The collage of images has been retweeted well over an astonishing 6,000 times:
We should be RTing this nonstop. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US. #AntonioMartin #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/rABF04jP2E
— Free Radical. (@ImJustCeej) December 24, 2014
The gun was planted. Don't let them vilify #AntonioMartin with lies and bullshit. pic.twitter.com/hvtq7HEYqh
— #blacklivesmatter (@MADBLACKTHOT) December 24, 2014
@erdikken looks suspicious. pic.twitter.com/WN3AhN6dsT
— rye (@_ryedes) December 24, 2014
He was unarmed @Im_0n1 look at the photos #AntonioMartin pic.twitter.com/RAF3j9khB8
— Harlem Tae (@HarlemTotheTop) December 24, 2014
I know, I know…. The police would never and have never planted a weapon on anyone. Thanks for the reminder, #EggAndAnimalAviTwitter! :)
— Free Radical. (@ImJustCeej) December 24, 2014
At least one tweep has already had his fun with this story, duping Huffington Post into thinking he witnessed the shooting before mocking the site for running with the story.
[Image via screengrab]
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