A former Texas student has been accused of fabricating a mass shooting during a speech advocating for stricter gun control measures at the Kentucky State Capitol earlier this year. Calvin Polacheck delivered a harrowing account of surviving a 2017 active shooter situation at Dallas High School that killed his brother, best friend, and nine others; however, authorities said it never happened and shamed Polacheck for his false claims.
“A week later, I had to go back to that school, and that was the worst part because you had to walk past that spot where I saw my best friend and pretend it was all normal. It was not normal,” Polacheck said in February at the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America rally. “Folks, that’s been eight years, and I’ve been talking about this every single day since then for eight years. Eight years of talking about this, and there’s been nothing that’s changed.”
Kentucky local news networks quoted Polacheck’s remarks in their articles regarding the rally. After the falsehoods surfaced on Wednesday, several of the outlets, such as WDKY and Kentucky Lantern, removed the story from their websites, Citizens Voice reported.
The Dallas school district issued a statement on Wednesday refuting Polacheck’s allegations, saying, “Thankfully, that never happened.”
“The discussion on the clip about Dallas and school violence is not factually accurate. Our district solicitor is supporting an investigation and communication regarding the circulating clip,” the statement continued.
Polacheck’s comments also garnered the attention of the Dallas Township police chief and the Luzerne County district attorney.
“The widespread sharing of a fabricated tragedy is not only reckless, it is harmful. It fuels unnecessary fear, disrespects the experiences of real victims of school violence, and misleads the public with a narrative that has no basis in truth,” said police chief Doug Higgins, who noted that there has never been a shooting at Dallas High School. “The false claims,” he continued, “are deeply troubling. They undermine the integrity of our school district, erode public trust, and cause real harm to a community that takes great pride in protecting its residents, especially its children.”
Hellbound and Down 