The instigators of the rumor that immigrants are eating animals in Springfield, Ohio, have broken their silence.
• Also read: Illegal immigrants ‘eat cats and pets,’ Donald Trump says in debate
• Also read: Haitian migrants in Ohio fear spike in racist violence
• Also read: Schools evacuated in city targeted by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric
NewsGuard has identified and tracked down the two people who started the rumor that was relayed by Donald Trump during the presidential debate on Tuesday night.
They are a 12-year-old girl and her neighbor who is in her thirties.
The teenager admits that she has no proof of what she reported to her neighbor. It is only hearsay.
It was the 35-year-old’s Facebook post that ended up in the hands of Republicans.
Several schools had to be evacuated after Donald Trump’s false accusations.
Springfield’s mayor has reiterated that citizens’ pets are not in danger.
