ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Conspiracy theorists have claimed some students speaking out after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas are paid actors.
Now a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting is now coming to their defense, saying the same thing happened to her.
Raw sound: Victim describes hiding in bathroom stall
“I’m not a crisis actor. I’m somebody that had to witness this and lived through this,” said Patience Carter. “Going through that, it was so painful, like emotionally painful, because I already felt guilty about the situation. Then adding that on top of it, it was just a mixture of so many horrible things. Such a dark place to be in."
Carter was one of the survivors of the June 12, 2016 shooting. Forty-nine others weren’t so lucky.
Many on social media have called shooting victims “crisis actors” paid to push gun control.
"The very first meme saying crisis actor, it was a screenshot from when I was an intern at Fox 29 news and they tried to use that and say I was an anchor for Fox 29 and I was working with the government conspiring. I just thought it was completely ridiculous. Why? Because I'm sitting here with two huge holes in my legs. I just came out of surgery a couple days ago and now I have to direct my energy on not feeling attacked when all I want to do is heal,” Carter said to Channel 9’s Lauren Seabrook.
Conspiracy theorists also went after families of murdered children at Sandy Hook.
"It makes you feel like your voice is invalid and as much how hard you want people to believe what you're saying, no matter what it is, it makes you feel like it's not valued. You feel like people are going to call you a liar regardless,” Carter said.
Carter called the South Florida students “warriors” for pushing through the distraction of being called crisis actors.
Photos: Victims of Pulse nightclub
Cox Media Group
