Fox News slapped with defamation suit for allegedly smearing innocent man as 'neo-Nazi murderer'

UPDATE: In June 2024, Fox News was dismissed from the lawsuit. In a statement, Mauricio Garcia's lawyer, Mark Bankston, said:

"I acknowledge the lawsuit should never have been filed against Fox News, and we are compensating Fox News for its trouble in defending against this claim. In turn, Fox News is foregoing pursuing sanctions. Contrary to my prior public statements, Fox News did not ignore basic journalistic precautions and did have proper institutional guardrails in place with respect to its coverage of the Allen, TX shooting."

A Texas man has sued Fox News, Newsmax and other right-wing media outlets for falsely smearing him as a "neo-Nazi murderer" following a mass shooting last year at an outlet mall.

The lawsuit alleges that Fox News, Newsmax, Univision, Timcast, Steven Crowder, Owen Shroyer, Simon Ateba and Hollywood Unlocked all falsely identified 36-year-old Mauricio Garcia as the gunman who killed nine people and wounded seven others May 6, 2023, at Allen Premium Outlets.

The actual shooter was a 33-year-old man with the same name who was later killed by police in the same area on an unrelated call.

"On the day of the shooting, no details were released about the shooter, but on the following day, media organizations tried to identify the shooter based on the release of his name and date of birth by law enforcement," tweeted attorney Mark Bankston, one of the plaintiff's attorneys. "The lawsuit alleges these defendants ignored basic journalistic precautions, and as a result, they accused the wrong person - our client, 36-year-old Mauricio Garcia, who is not the shooter and does not share the shooter’s date of birth."

According to the suit, an article on the Fox News website featured an image of Garcia identifying him as the shooter, and Bankston said there was no justifiable reason to use that photo, and the suit alleges the network failed to exercise reasonable care in making sure the photograph was accurate.

ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why keeping Trump from the White House is all that matters

“In their haste to cash in on the eagerness of viewers and readers to learn the identity of the May 6, 2023 mass shooter at the outlet mall in Allen, Texas, several media organizations recklessly disregarded basic journalistic safeguards and published the photo of an innocent man, branding him as a neo-Nazi murderer to his local community and the nation at large,” the suit alleges.

Garcia is seeking $1 million in damages, saying that his life has been "disrupted" by death threats and hateful messages, and the suit alleges the media outlets and broadcasters had failed to issue proper retractions.

The gunman was a right-wing extremist with an extensive history online of hateful comments against women, Jews and racial minorities, and he committed the shooting wearing a tactical vest with a patch reading "RWDS," which stands for "Right Wing Death Squad," and he had numerous fascist tattoos, including a swastika and SS lightning bolts.