False flags, fake Secret Service agents: Conspiracies take over the internet after Trump assassination attempt

A deluge of conspiracy theories flooded the web in the aftermath of Saturday’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, with social media users spreading outlandish claims about the shooting that shook the nation.

Authorities have confirmed there was only one gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who perched on a nearby rooftop and managed to squeeze off at least eight rounds from an AR-15 assault-style rifle before being shot dead by Secret Service snipers. The shooter killed one attendee, critically wounded two others, and bloodied the former president’s ear. A motive has not yet been determined, according to law enforcement.

Almost immediately after the attack, an alternate reality emerged online, creating a dark abyss of mis- and disinformation about the shocking attack.

On 4Chan, a cesspool of wild conspiracy theories and the original home of the QAnon movement, a post appeared from “Jonathan Willis,” who wrote, “I’m the officer in the famous photo of the two snipers on the roof at Trump’s rally.”

“I came here to inform the public that I had the assassin in my sights for at least 3 minutes, but the head of the secret service refused to give the order to take out the perp,” the post asserted. “100% the top brass prevented me from killing the assassin before he took the shots at president Trump.”

As has now become the norm, credulous responses flooded in.

“I want to believe you,” one said. “I’m sorry you were in that position. Thank you for coming forward.”

“I’ll be watching for this hero to be in a single car auto accident over the next week,” said another.

A Secret Service spokesman on Monday told The Independent that the claim was “categorically false,” and that the agency