A queer Palestinian student at Brown University endured a racist online campaign falsely accusing him of involvement in a deadly campus shooting. The smears, amplified by prominent figures, stemmed from conspiracy theories amid law enforcement delays. Mustapha Kharbouch, who survived the attack, received death threats while grieving.
On December 13, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente carried out a shooting at Brown University, killing two people and injuring nine. The gunman, still at large two days later, killed MIT scientist Nuno Loureiro on December 15 before taking his own life on December 16; his body was discovered on December 18. Authorities resolved the case with assistance from a Reddit post, highlighting investigative shortcomings that fueled online speculation.
Mustapha Kharbouch, a queer Palestinian student at Brown, became the target of false accusations portraying him as the shooter. These claims originated from an anonymous X account, @0hour1, on December 15, which shared Kharbouch's photos alongside police images of a person of interest. His pro-Palestinian activism was highlighted to stoke suspicions, with some posts comparing his appearance to footage released by police.
Influential voices amplified the narrative: right-wing podcaster Tim Pool, US Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, billionaire Bill Ackman, Sequoia Capital's Shaun Maguire, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, and influencer Laura Loomer. Maguire, for instance, claimed "very strong evidence" linked Kharbouch to the murders and falsely described Loureiro as Jewish, framing the killings as pro-Palestinian terrorism. Brown University removed Kharbouch's information from its website to prevent doxing, but this action was misconstrued as a cover-up.
Separate theories wrongly suggested Loureiro's death was a targeted assassination by an Iranian operative due to Zionist ties, despite no evidence supporting his Jewish identity or such motives. Valente's actions appear driven by personal frustrations over his academic failures.
In a statement, Kharbouch said: "I woke up on Tuesday morning to unfounded, vile, Islamophobic, and anti-Palestinian accusations being directed toward me online. Instead of grieving with my community in the aftermath of the horrible shooting, I received non-stop death threats and hate speech."
The incident underscores rising Islamophobia, exemplified by Senator Tommy Tuberville's December 14 tweet: "Islam is not a religion. It’s a cult. Islamists aren’t here to assimilate. They’re here to conquer." Such rhetoric, the article argues, normalizes hatred with little pushback.
