Since 2015 , Hyde has been frequently misreported as the perpetrator of numerous mass shootings and terrorist attacks by internet trolls on websites such as 4chan and Twitter . The hoaxes , which typically included photos of Hyde brandishing an assault rifle , reappeared so often on social media that '' The New York Times '' characterized " Sam Hyde is the shooter " as " an identifiable meme . " The first instance of the prank was the Umpqua Community College shooting . CNN mistakenly included Hyde 's image on their coverage of the shooting . Hyde was also erroneously blamed for many other shootings . Hyde expressed his concerns regarding the negative attention indiscriminately directed towards him by the falsifications , calling it a " weird adjustment phase "
Umpqua Community College shooting
Umpqua Community College shooting
Sam Hyde