Facebook Flooded With Bizarre Deepfaked Photos of Alleged White House Correspondents' Dinner Gunman

Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California, has been charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, though plenty of questions remain about his intended target and whether he even got a shot off. But we can say one thing for certain: All those images you’re seeing that depict Allen in the attire of various sports teams are 100% fake. Allen was first identified by the Associated Press late on April 25. The following day, AI-generated images purporting to show Allen in the clothes of different sports teams were popping up on Facebook. The sports attire was associated with different sports and levels of play, including baseball teams like the L.A. Dodgers, hockey teams like the Montreal Canadiens, and colleges like the Oregon Ducks and the Michigan State Spartans. The fact-checking site Lead Stories notes that many of the fake images were posted by a Facebook page called West Coast Sluggers with versions of the caption: BREAKING: The shooter at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been identified as 30-year-old Cole Allen from Torrance, California. Prior to the incident, he worked as a security