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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on November 15, 2019 in a Facebook post: Says ABC 7 reported the Santa Clarita high school shooting \"3 weeks in advance.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"pants- fire\\"](\\" * National * Fake news * Facebook posts ![\\"Miriam](\\" By Miriam Valverde November 26, 2019 # No, TV station did not report school shooting ‘3 weeks in advance’ A Facebook post falsely claims that a TV station in Los Angeles aired a story about the Nov. 14 Santa Clarita high school shooting three weeks before it happened. \"That awkward moment when they air the story 3 weeks in advance. Woopsie, nothing to see here,\" said a caption for a Nov. 15 post that’s been shared at least 228 times. The caption is for an image of what looks like a screenshot of online news search results. One of those results is a snippet, circled in red, purportedly dated Oct. 23, 2019 by ABC 7 in Los Angeles: \"A 16-year-old boy shot five fellow students, at least two fatally, Thursday morning at Saugus High School in Santa …\" The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Two teenagers were killed by a gunman at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Nov. 14. Authorities said that the suspect, also a teenager and student at the school, shot himself in the head and later died at the hospital. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on August 12, 2024 in an Instagram post Kamala Harris posted about banning Barron Trump’s friend from X because he wore a “Biden Loves Minors” shirt. ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • August 14, 2024 We searched ABC 7’s website, Nexis news archives, Google and the broadcast media monitoring website TVEyes. We found no evidence that on Oct. 23 ABC 7 aired or published a story about a high school shooting in Santa Clarita. We reached out to ABC 7 for comment but have not heard back. ABC 7’s first published news reports about the school shooting were on Nov. 14, the day the incident, archives show. ABC 7’s page listing all news about Santa Clarita does not have any Oct. 23 reports about the shooting, as the Facebook post falsely claimed. The story snippet that the Facebook post highlights does appear to have been written by ABC 7 staff — it features the same first sentence of a story bylined by ABC 7’s staff. But ABC 7 actually published the story on Nov. 14, not three weeks before the shooting happened. Our ruling A Facebook post claimed that ABC 7 reported the Santa Clarita high school shooting \"3 weeks in advance.\" We found no evidence of that. All reporting about that shooting began Nov. 14, not earlier. This appears to be another example of a so-called \"false flag\" theory fueled through social media that often follows mass shootings. Such theories seek to promote the notion that these mass horrors never happened and are the invention of a media conspiracy. They have no basis in truth. We rate the post Pants on Fire! #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Facebook post about ABC 7 and Santa Clarita high school shooting Wayback Machine, Internet Archive: Santa Clarita, California, high school shooting kills 2, injures 4, Nov 14 article by ABC7.com staff ABC7.com, Santa Clarita News ABC7.com, California school shooting: Suspect in Saugus High School rampage has died, Nov. 16, 2019 PolitiFact, Why do some people think mass shootings are staged every time?, Aug. 8, 2019 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Miriam Valverde ![](\\" ![](\\" Pramila Jayapal stated on August 30, 2021 in an Instagram post: “The average hospital stay for a case of COVID-19 costs about $17,064. The vaccine is free.” ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • September 2, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Mitt Romney stated on August 29, 2021 in a CNN interview: The Trump administration worked to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners. ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • August 31, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Joe Biden stated on August 20, 2021 in a press conference: There has been “no question of our credibility from our allies around the world” regarding how the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • August 26, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on August 16, 2021 in a Facebook post: COVID-19 vaccinations are “a violation of the Nuremberg code.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • August 20, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on August 4, 2021 in a press conference: Says Joe Biden has driven the current coronavirus surge because he “imported more virus from around the world by having a wide open southern border.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Louis Jacobson • August 6, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on June 16, 2021 in a press conference: “That meth … it’s almost all coming across the southern border and it’s been accelerating for the last six months.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • June 21, 2021 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 4, 2021 in an Instagram post: \"920 women lose their unborn babies after getting vaccinated.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Miriam Valverde • June 8, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on May 26, 2021 in a Facebook post: Police defunding is to blame for “skyrocketing murder rates” in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • May 28, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on May 25, 2021 in a Facebook post: “Biden agrees to Pelosi\'s request to resign.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Miriam Valverde • May 26, 2021 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on May 17, 2021 in social media posts: “Gas prices highest in a decade. Worst jobs report in 2 decades. Highest inflation in 3 decades. 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Says ABC 7 reported the Santa Clarita high school shooting 3 weeks in advance