The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer who used a knee chokehold on him, has sparked protests all over the country. As they gained traction, so did online hoaxes and disinformation about them. BuzzFeed News is keeping a running list of the false and misleading information.

Before passing on any online rumor, take the time to verify it. This can be done by checking how recently an account has been created, keeping a close eye on information from news outlets, or searching online to find another source.

The person behind the account told BuzzFeed News in a direct message that they did not expect the tweet to get so much traction.

“I apologize to everyone that I potentially worried or caused any work to help find my ‘missing brother’ and that I never intended it to get such a wide range of people finding it from the start of my tweet,” he said. He declined to reveal his identity except to say he’s 16 years old and living in the US.

A statement issued by KSTP news director Kirk Varner said Reeve was filming the peaceful protest on his phone when he captured what he thought was the sound of gunshots.

“Wanting to confirm the sound he heard, he went to play back the video on his cell phone which indeed shows an individual shooting into the air,” Varner said, adding that a group of protesters approached Reeve as he was reviewing the footage.

The station’s statement includes the footage shot by Reeve, which does show a man in the street firing several shots from a handgun.

This version of events is also supported by the video shared on Twitter of Reeve speaking with protesters. At the very end, he lifts up his phone to show the footage and says, “This is what I saw.”

The station said other eyewitnesses confirmed that Reeves was reviewing protest footage filmed on his phone.

“There have been false accusations that our reporter was playing the sound of the gunshots to upset the crowd, and that is simply not true,” Varner said. “Also not true is that the sound of gunshots was falsely used in our reporting.”

The station chose not to air the gunshots “because we felt it ultimately did not contribute to our efforts to impartially portray the events that were happening in a rapidly developing situation.”

“The victim went to the 2200 block of N. Lamar Street (House of Blues) carrying a machete to allegedly protect his neighborhood from protesters,” a Dallas police spokesperson said in a statement. “The victim confronted protesters while holding the machete and was subsequently assaulted by the protesters. He was transported to an area hospital where he remains in stable condition. This remains an ongoing investigation.”

He shared several videos and livestreams that show him riding around downtown Chicago during recent protests. In one, he jokingly yelled that he’d stolen the horse from the police, which caused some to think he was being serious.

We reached out to a moderator of the Facebook group and to a user who allegedly saw the message, and will update with any additional information.