On Valentine’s Day, one woman was killed and 22 people were injured in a mass shooting that took place after a parade celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl win.
About half of the 22 people injured in the Kansas City, Missouri, shooting were under the age of 16.
In the days after the mass shooting, posts shared across social media platforms with hundreds of thousands of views identified 44-year-old Sahil Omar as a suspect. At least two of the posts feature a photo of the alleged suspect and claim he is an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally.
THE QUESTION
Is Sahil Omar a suspect in the Kansas City parade shooting?
THE SOURCES
- Kansas City Police Department spokesperson
- Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker
- Jackson County Family Court Division in Missouri
- RevEye, a reverse image search tool
- Original photo on the Getty Images website
- Local media reports
THE ANSWER
No, Sahil Omar is not a suspect in the Kansas City parade shooting. The same name has also been falsely linked to recent incidents in other areas and there’s no evidence anyone with that name even exists.
WHAT WE FOUND
Two adults have been charged with murder in connection with the Kansas City parade shooting. But neither of the adults’ names are Sahil Omar.
The name Sahil Omar has been falsely linked to incidents in other cities, including a school shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, and an explosion in Fort Worth, Texas. There’s no evidence anyone with that name exists, either.
On Feb. 20, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Dominic M. Miller and Lyndell Mays are facing murder and other felony charges in connection with the parade shooting – not Sahil Omar.
The new charges for the two men come after the Jackson County Family Court Division in Missouri said two unnamed juveniles are facing gun-related and resisting arrest charges after the parade shooting.
The Kansas City Police Department confirmed to VERIFY that no one by the name of Sahil Omar is in custody or facing charges in connection with the shooting.
“There’s no indication that person is involved in the shooting. The information surrounding a man named Sahil Omar did not come from us,” a police spokesperson said.
Several of the viral posts share a photo of a man who they falsely claim is Sahil Omar, a 44-year-old immigrant living illegally in the U.S.
Using a reverse image search tool called RevEye, VERIFY found the original photo on the Getty Images website. It was shot by an AFP photographer.
That photo shows a person who was detained near the Super Bowl parade in Kansas City, Missouri, on Feb. 14, but was not identified as a suspected shooter. Local media outlets reported that the man was detained for being intoxicated and later released. His name is not Sahil Omar.
This is not the first time people on social media have erroneously connected the name Sahil Omar to major incidents over the last several months.
In November 2023, some posts falsely linked “44-year-old migrant Sahil Omar” to a fiery crash and subsequent explosion at a U.S.-Canada border checkpoint in Niagara Falls.
Two people who were inside the car died, but neither of them were named Sahil Omar. The FBI said it did not find explosive materials inside the vehicle or any connections to terrorism, as some people alleged.
Less than a month later, others falsely claimed 44-year-old immigrant Sahil Omar was the suspect in a deadly shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in December 2023.
The suspected shooter was actually identified as 67-year-old Anthony Polito, a longtime professor who authorities say had unsuccessfully sought a job at UNLV.
In early January 2024, people online again falsely named Omar as the suspect in an explosion at a historic hotel in Fort Worth Texas.
The Fort Worth Police Department told the Associated Press it was not seeking a suspect in the explosion. Authorities said at the time that the explosion was “likely caused by a gas leak.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: El inmigrante 'Sahil Omar' ha sido falsamente relacionado con el tiroteo de Kansas City y otros crímenes
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