Friend A: I heard this from a cop friend of mine. It's true. There's a Detroit gang in Flint today and they're shooting women at gas stations as an initiation!
My first thought was "This is bullshit. Why would a Detroit gang drive 90 miles to a strange city they don't know, begin a series of executions and have to drive 90 miles back to safety? It's nonsensical."
My second thought was "This sounds like a variant of an urban legend."
My third thought was to check the media. Surely, if this was real it would be in the process of being reported.
Result? None of the news channels had anything to say about this.
I relayed these thoughts to Friend A who refused to believe me. Before I could dip further into debunking the claim I receive an e-mail from friend B.
Friend B: My friend is a teacher at a Flint school and he says they're in lockdown over this rumor. Apparently three people have been shot already. Sounds hard to believe. What do you think?
I share my thoughts with Friend B and she seems to agree. No sooner does this happen when I get a text message from Friend C.
Friend C: There's a gang killing women and children in Flint today!
Exasperated I call Friend C back and she begins explaining that it started earlier in Pontiac where one dead body was found and that three bodies had been found in a similar style in Flint. In fact, our friend (Friend D) said that one of the bodies had been found right by her house and that sections of Saginaw and Grand Traverse were shut down and all Flint schools were in lockdown.
Sighing, I explain my reasoning to Friend C, who is reluctant to believe me. I don't even get halfway through my explanation when my sister-in-law texts me about the massacre and how her school is in lockdown. Then my mom sends me the same message.
Good lord.
I IM my buddy who's dad is a bigwig at a local station. He hasn't heard about this but says he will call his dad. A few minutes later he hits me back saying his dad has been on the phone all day over this garbage and that he's spoken to the sheriff personally and been reassured that it's a hoax. I begin passing this info on to my friends who still regard me skeptically. A couple even ask me "Did you hear this from the sheriff yourself or is this just something you heard?" You, know... like I was... perpetuating a fucking rumor!!!
Jesus wept.
I suppose it didn't help that, yes, a man was gunned down yesterday afternoon. People heard of the two events and put them together. But the thing is: this is Flint. People get shot here. Correlation does not imply causation.
Then the rumor became that the gang had moved to Clio and was currently shooting up the town!
Sigh.
After all was said and done I still had some friends who stayed home because "better safe than sorry". And I heard last night from a reliable source that the whole thing started because a sheriff deputy had broadcast over open air the night before that he'd heard the rumor and that everyone should be on the lookout.
It must be true!
