CA vigilantes attack mentally ill homeless man targeted in fake Facebook warning
theGrio REPORT - Over the weekend, vigilantes attacked a mentally disabled homeless man in California after being incited by a phony Facebook warning about him.
Over the weekend, vigilantes attacked a mentally disabled homeless man in California after being incited by a phony Facebook warning about him.
The Modesto Bee reports that on Friday, a post began circulating on social media warning that the man was trying to break into Modesto homes and assault women.
Investigators say the original Facebook posts were based on inaccurate third party accounts. They described the man and divulged where he could be found, along with a plea to share the warnings to prevent any other women from being harmed.
Officers believed the man was mentally ill and had — at most — verbally assaulted people by panhandling and knocking on a few doors in the neighborhood. But no assaults or harm were ever reported. When they stopped him for questioning, he cooperated, had no weapons, and provided identification, so the officers let him go.
The police even issued a cautionary post on social media saying the Facebook warnings were false, but unfortunately, those directives fell on deaf ears. By Friday afternoon, witnesses say a group of men went looking for the homeless man, beat him up and then scared him into traffic.
Check out local coverage of the story below.
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