These photos show Jacob Blake posing with a gun.
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These photos don’t show Jacob Blake posing with a gun
If Your Time is short
- These photos don’t show Jacob Blake, a Black man shot and partially paralyzed by a white police officer on Aug. 23 in Kenosha, Wis.
A grid of four images being shared on social media show someone posing with a gun, and in three of the photos, aiming it at the camera.
"I’m not judging," the post says, "I’m just showing you pictures of Jacob Blake."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
But these are not pictures of Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot and partially paralyzed by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 23, while his children watched from a nearby vehicle.
First of all, the person in the images doesn’t resemble Blake.
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Second, they previously spread on social media in connection with the death of 16-year-old Pierre Loury, who was shot by a police officer in 2016 in Chicago.
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We couldn’t find credible sources confirming that the person in these photos is Loury, either. His Facebook account now only shows two photos, including one that says "R.I.P."
A different photo the Chicago Tribune published from Loury’s Facebook page in 2016 shows him posing with a gun. His mother "said the photo was taken while he was promoting a rap song, nothing more," the caption says.
We rate this Facebook post False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, Aug. 25, 2020
Facebook post, July 9, 2016
The New York Times, Two killed and one injured on third night of unrest in Kenosha, Wis., Aug. 26, 2020
The New York Times, Wisconsin reels after police shooting and second night of protests, Aug. 24, 2020
Chicago Tribune, Boy, 16, shot by police, lived and died in one of city’s toughest neighborhoods, May 10, 2016
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These photos don’t show Jacob Blake posing with a gun
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