Was an African-American man named Tyrone Smith killed by a cop who was actually shooting a flying cockroach in Chicago? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a known "fauxtire" website. It did not happen for real even though the story did go viral briefly.
The story originated from an article published by 8Satire on December 25, 2018 titled "Cop Shoots At Flying Cockroach But Accidentally Kills Black Man Instead" (archived here) which opened:
In a terrifying incident last night in Chicago, a cop accidentally killed a man when trying to kill a flying cockroach, local authorities report. The man, Tyrone Smith, was rushed to the hospital but couldn't make it in time. The cop who shot at him was arrested.
"Everyone is strong and powerful until the cockroach can fly", the police officer, Mike Doors, said. "I needed something to defend myself, so I shot at it. The fact that it killed a man, specifically a black one, is a mere coincidence", he confirmed.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Cop Shoots At Flying Cockroach But Accidentally Kills Black Man Instead
In a terrifying incident last night in Chicago, a cop accidentally killed a man when trying to kill a flying cockroach, local authorities report. The man, Tyrone Smith, was rushed to the hospital but couldn't make it in time. The cop who shot at him was arrested. "Everyone is strong and powerful until the cockroach [...]
We were unable to find any reliable news source writing or publishing anything about recent events involving Tyrone Smith or Mike Doors in Chicago and that shouldn't surprise anyone because 8Satire is the new name of 8Shit.com and it carries following disclaimer on each page:
8Shit is a satire news and humor website. All its content is fiction (except those posts under the "serious" category) and shouldn't be taken as real. All references, names and marks or institutions in this website are used as contextual elements, like in any novel or science-fiction story.
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