‘Samantha Hyde’ was not the Apalachee High School shooter. That’s a recurring meme

Hours after a teenager shot and killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, an X user claimed the suspect had been identified.

"BREAKING: Apalachee High School shooter has been identified as non-binary trans girl Samantha Hyde," the Sept. 4 post said.

(Screenshot from X)

If this name seems familiar, it’s because for almost a decade, people have been falsely pinning tragedies on a person by this or a similar name: that of comedian Sam Hyde.

Authorities identified the suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting as 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at the Winder, Georgia, school. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Gray, who has been charged with four counts of felony murder, will be tried as an adult. The agency identified the four victims, two students and two teachers, as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14; Richard Aspinwall, 39; and Christina Irimie, 53.

The bureau has not said Gray is nonbinary or transgender, and we haven’t seen any comments from friends or relatives saying that he is. The FBI said that, in 2023, its National Threat Operations Center received anonymous tips about an online message threatening a school shooting. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia investigated and identified Gray as the subject of the tips. Authorities interviewed Gray, who denied making such threats.

That Jackson County sheriff’s office report, which identified Gray as male, said nothing about Gray being nonbinary or transgender.

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Fred Thompson

stated on August 21, 2007 in article on his campaign Web site

We live in "a time of historically low violent crime rates and historically high gun ownership rates nationally."

PolitiFact has debunked these "Sam Hyde" claims in multiple instances, such as a 2020 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, and the 2023 U.S. Air Force’s shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon. "Samantha Hyde" was also falsely credited with carrying out a 2023 school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.

We rate the claim that the Apalachee High School shooter was identified as "Samantha Hyde" Pants on Fire!

PolitiFact Contributing Writer Ciara O’Rourke contributed to this report.