“Multiple sources confirm there was a shooting at Navy Yard just after 7:30 a.m.,” Washington’s Fox station, WTTG (Channel 5), tweeted as reporters and law enforcement personnel converged on the scene.
In fact, there was no shooting — only reports of one, apparently based on a single phone call to D.C. police from someone within the complex. But for brief and tense moments, some media outlets reported otherwise, summoning up grim memories of the September 2013 shootings that left 12 Navy Yard workers dead.
WTTG, for one, didn’t stop with its initial, mistaken report.
A few minutes after its first alert, the station relayed information it said came from one of its reporters, Paul Wagner: “2 law enforcement sources say TWO armed men seen inside #NavyYard bldg 197, 1 possible victim,” with a link to a story on the station’s Web page.
In fact, there were no armed men, other than police, and no victim inside Building 197, the site of the 2013 shooting.
The station noted the grim locale a few minutes later by retweeting reporter Melanie Alnwick’s tweet, which seemed to confirm its earlier, erroneous report: “Eerie to see helicopters over #NavyYard once again. Source confirms shooting to @fox5newsdc.”
WTTG anchor Steve Chenevey played it both ways: “NAVY saying it can’t confirm shooting at #NavyYard but our assignment manager has multiple sources confirming shooting inside building 197.”
Meanwhile, other reporters “confirmed” the idea that a shooting had taken place rather than a mere report of a possible shooting. WUSA (Channel 9), the Washington CBS affiliate, retweeted reporter Nikki Burdine’s breaking tweet before 8 a.m: “Police source tells me Navy security reporting 2 shooters.” The station also had its own tweet to the same effect: “Navy security sources say police are looking for 2 men at #NavyYard.”
Soon, there was more “confirmation” of the supposed confirmation, but this time from an actual named source.
More about:
