Image of Fox News chyron calling UNC shooting suspect a ‘mostly white Asian’ is fabricated

As details unfolded about an Aug. 28 fatal shooting on the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus, social media users shared an image that supposedly came from Fox News containing details about the person charged in the shooting. 

An Aug. 29 Instagram post shared an image that looked like a Fox News chyron and read, "Shooter described as ‘mostly white Asian male,’ with a red circle around those words.

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

We found several other social media posts sharing the image of the Fox News chyron. But the image is fabricated.

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stated on October 28, 2024 in in social media posts

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A Fox News spokesperson told PolitiFact the chyron is "fake and never aired." 

The Instagram post also includes an image of a hand holding a cellphone displaying a photo of Tailei Qi, who is charged in the shooting, which killed Zijie Yan, a UNC associate professor. The photo was used in Aug. 28 Fox News coverage of the shooting, but when the image appeared in the newscast, the actual chyron read, "UNC police release picture of person of interest."

Later in the newscast, the chyron read, "Police: If you see this person, keep your distance."

We rate the claim that a Fox News chyron called the University of North Carolina shooting suspect a ‘mostly white Asian’ False.