Tech

Trump supporter uses cutout of David Hogg as a shooting target

The tweet sparked huge backlash.

Photo of Andrew Wyrich

Andrew Wyrich

Trump supporter uses David Hogg image as target practice

A supporter of President Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter after he posted a video of him shooting a photo of David Hogg, a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

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In the video, the Twitter user @MagaFrank2 shoots a photo of the shooting survivor while wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat.

“I got a message for David Hogg, the bitch at CNN,” he says in the now-deleted video. “You want to push society to a civil war? You want to make us all fight? You want to see what a civil war looks like? I’m going to show you what a civil war looks like, David.”

https://twitter.com/OpTheResistance/status/984447185583529984

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Hogg is one of several survivors who have pushed for gun reform after 17 people died at their school after a shooter opened fire on Valentine’s Day. Hogg, in particular, has been the subject of conspiracy theories from far-right people online.

The person behind the account, Frank Espinsoza, spoke with Newsweek about the video and said he was a “performance artist.”

“I wanted to see the trajectory of where this [Internet censorship] was going,” he told the news outlet, adding that it was “possible” that the video could inspire violence against Hogg.

After posting the video, Espinoza was met with a torrent of backlash from people who reported him on several social media platforms, including YouTube. His Patreon page appears to still be active.

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https://twitter.com/parkermolloy/status/984441111484751872?s=12

“Putting the face of a school shooting survivor on a target. WOW, you’re a piece of shit,” one Twitter user, @FrankRCastillo, wrote.

“Hey @FBI and @TwitterSupport Can someone check @MagaFrank2 seems he is threatening a child,” another user, @Babearella wrote.

It was Hogg’s 18th birthday earlier this week.

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The Daily Dot