Bad info after Charlie Kirk assassination leads to flood of threats against NJ schools

🔴 Linden Public Schools receives a flood of violent death threats

🔴 Online posts were wrongly said to belong to a Linden schools employee

🔴 Police have figured out the source of the misinformation

UPDATE: Graduate student arrested for the assassination of Charlie Kirk

LINDEN — This New Jersey public school district was inundated with violent threats after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

According to police, all Linden Public Schools had to shelter in place on Thursday.

The school district in Union County was targeted after social media comments regarding Kirk's assassination were linked to a person believed to be a teacher here, Linden police Capt. Christopher Guenther said.

But the person who made the comments is not affiliated with Linden Public Schools, officials said.

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"According to Superintendent Atiya Y. Perkins, this individual is not, nor has ever been, an employee of Linden Public Schools, Linden New Jersey," the school district said in a Facebook post.

Threats to Linden school district under investigation

The Linden police are investigating the threats. More police officers are being posted at all Linden schools in response.

"It is understandable for people to have strong emotions following yesterday's horrific events, and we join those who have condemned this killing in strongest of terms. Violence is never the answer, and threats of violence like this have no place in our society, and certainly not in our schools," Guenther said in a statement on behalf of the Linden police.

Where did the fake information come from?

Guenther confirmed to New Jersey 101.5 that the original misinformation came from the conservative X account @LeftismForU.

The account said that it had posted videos of a woman from New Jersey who celebrated Kirk's assassination.

"In all seriousness guys, this Charlie Kirk is a really bad dude. And we should be kinda happy that he's dead," the woman in the video said.

The account's earlier posts said the woman was a Linden Public Schools teacher.

After being contacted by Linden police, @LeftismForU took down the post and reuploaded the videos. The new caption only claimed that the woman was from New Jersey.

"Perhaps the information that I had was outdated, but I deleted the post and will upload the videos separately. I do not want harm coming to anyone, and do not want to put anyone in danger," the account said.

The account, however, had previously reshared unfounded criticism of the Linden district and had not removed those posts from its feed.

The real risk of misinformation posted online

Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the misidentification has led to real threats against a teacher at the school district.

"This is a stark reminder that misinformation can cause real and dangerous harm when spread without verification. I urge everyone to act responsibly and not share unverified claims," Armstead said in a Facebook post.

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