PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia police say someone posted false information on Facebook identifying a city man as the Kensington Strangler. Now, police want to get the word out to protect the man from vigilante justice.
Police Lieutenant Ray Evers says police found out about the Facebook posting mid-Monday morning. The fan page had a photo of a man and his address. “This fan page was saying this man was the Kensington Strangler. Looking at this picture, we notified Homicide and Special Victims and they said, no this male is not a subject in this investigation and is not wanted in this investigation.”
Evers says the man was at his mother’s home and people were gathering outside, so he called police to tell them it wasn’t him. The man was then escorted by 25th District Police to Special Victims where he was interviewed, and cleared, and then he was taken to Homicide. “We utilized our own Facebook page, and it was our duty to say that this male was not wanted, was not a subject of our investigation.”
Evers says Facebook is a social network; it is not a fact checking site, and this can be damaging to innocent people.
It’s only a matter of time. Welcome to New America.
i live in Philly and the hysteria over the “Kenzington Strangler” is getting out of hand. I’ve read several reports with investigators quoted saying a couple of these crimes are related, but there’s a good chance they are not all done by one guy.
But the local media is hyping the ‘Strangler’ idea because it makes people freak out.
Hey, if i lived in the Kenzington section of the city, i would probably want to strangle people, too.
BTW, walking the streets here, i’ve seen about 100 guys that resemble that drawing! I guess i should be ‘seeing something, saying something’ on every one of these people…
before i get arrested for NOT doing it.
#20 – the salem witch trials weren’t hysteria, they were very logical.
The property of anybody convicted of being a witch (unlike other crimes) went to the prosecutors.
Imagine if the TSA got to keep anything they confiscated from you.
# 22 nobody – Imagine if the TSA got to keep anything they confiscated from you.
They can keep my water. It’s full of backwash, anyways.
Brian (#21) said: “BTW, walking the streets here, i’ve seen about 100 guys that resemble that drawing!”
How do you know they aren’t all in on it? You know, roaming the streets at night in huge gangs looking for their next victim.
My god man, get the fuck out of there. It sounds like Kensington is a breeding ground for serial killers.
# 24 msbpodcast said, “How do you know they aren’t all in on it?”
Good point. Could be a whole new type of serial killers.
And yet again I get to gloat proudly that I have never so much as looked at Facebook.
This story reaffirms my opinion of the people Facebook attracts, not to mention the general mentality of Americans these days.
When did we become so easily seduced by hype and bullsh*t?
Besides, if you want to see subversive activity, all you need to do is tune in CSPAN.
Will you also be posting the “See something say something” SUCCESSES? Or is your website going to be the same old constant negative drivel?