James Fallows has tracked (here and here) the tale of how Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed initially and incorrectly identified the shooter in the Virginia Tech tragedy as a Chinese man. In a story from April 16, which has since been removed, Sneed led with:
Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.
The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said.
Police believe three bomb threats on the campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus’ security response, the source said.
Fallows shows the story was then updated to read:
The initial investigation had led law enforcement authorities to a preliminary suspect who was a Chinese national, accompanied by details and a description. The man was placed on the suspect list before fingerprints could be verified. The list in turn was distributed to law enforcement officials via a national network in place to check on possible terrorism in the United States.
By then the story had already been picked up by other outlets and, according Fallows, caused "alarm in the world’s most populous nation." No correction as of yet.
