The person accused of carrying out a mass shooting in Philadelphia this Monday, killing a man in a house and then gunning down four others, has since been identified as Kimbrady Carriker. Some reports suggested that Carriker was a transgender BLM supporter.
But according to Vice News' David Gilbert, there's little evidence to support such claims.
Carriker, who was arrested after the shooting, was arraigned on dozens of counts, including five counts of murder, several counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.
Some conservatives seized on reports that Carriker posted pictures on Facebook of himself dressed in women's clothing and that he was a supporter of Black Lives Matter. But Gilbert says that, though a review of Carriker's now-deleted Facebook profile showed pictures of him wearing long-braided hair and women's clothing, there's little evidence beyond those pictures that he is transgender.
Gilbert also reports that the claims of Carriker being a BLM supporter came from a "single image" of a clenched fist that was posted to his Facebook. But according to sources speaking to The New York Post, Carriker "regularly posts about supporting" BLM on his Facebook page and even expressed support for workers who protested in the Strike For Black Lives in July 2020.
In May 2020, Carriker posted a video to Facebook showing a burning Philadelphia police car covered with graffiti that included the acronym “ACAB," which means, “All cops are bastards," with the caption, “I was there; where were you? #we matter.”
In his report, Gilbert claims that Carriker "posted repeatedly" about former President Donald Trump, with one post in May saying, “Who supports Trump in 2024,” featuring an American flag emblazoned with the words “God, Guns & Trump.”
Carriker's victims were identified as 20-year-old Lashyd Merritt, 29-year-old Dymir Stanton, 59-year-old Ralph Moralis, and 15-year-old Daujan Brown, who were all pronounced dead shortly after the Monday night gunfire. Joseph Wamah Jr., 31, was found in a home early on Tuesday, also with multiple bullet wounds.
Read the full report over at Vice.
