An anchor at Richmond’s NBC affiliate tweeted Friday that Roanoke, Va. shooting suspect Vester Flanagan was “closely associated” with the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks – before clarifying that Flanagan never actually met the individuals.
Mike Valerio tweeted:
BREAKING from State Police – Flanagan closely associated w individuals who committed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. #WDBJshooting
— Mike Valerio (@MikeNBC12) August 28, 2015
Shortly later, Valerio clarified that Flanagan never met the Sept. 11 terror attackers, but instead felt “very closely associated” with mass murderers. He chalked the error up to Virginia State Police using “unfortunate” word choice.
UPDATE – State Police had an unfortunate choice of words #WDBJshooting gunman IDENTIFIED with 9/11 attackers. Never met them. #WDBJ
— Mike Valerio (@MikeNBC12) August 28, 2015
Here's the original direct quote from Virginia State Police on #WDBJshooting gunman. Changed now to say "IDENTIFIED" pic.twitter.com/RTIaphSQjq
— Mike Valerio (@MikeNBC12) August 28, 2015
And finally, he posted a corrected version of the State Police quote:
Here's the new direct quote from Virginia State Police on #WDBJshooting gunman "closely identified" w 9/11 attackers pic.twitter.com/LOmf38S2VB
— Mike Valerio (@MikeNBC12) August 28, 2015
This post has been updated.