NPR

Survivors Of Mass Shootings Face Renewed Trauma From Conspiracy Theorists

The idea that victims of mass shootings are hired actors who stage tragedies in order to achieve political gain has drifted from obscure right-wing media into the mainstream.
Pastor Frank Pomeroy and his wife Sherri speak during a press conference at the entrance to the First Baptist Church, after a mass shooting that killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas, last November.

Survivors of mass shootings are facing relentless harassment and renewed trauma from conspiracy theorists who claim the attacks were staged by the federal government.

From Sandy Hook to Parkland, the idea that the victims are hired actors who stage tragedies in order to achieve sinister political goals has drifted from dark corners of right-wing media into the mainstream.

Jodi Mann and Robert Ussery, the pair of conspiracy theorists who run the website, "Side Thorn Journalist," have been of the November shooting on a Texas church for months.

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