Irving ISD Educator Denies Sending Controversial 'Crisis Actor' Tweet
IRVING (CBSDFW.COM) - An Irving ISD employee denies sending a tweet accusing a Florida school shooting survivor of working as a "crisis actor."
The school district says they're now "conducting an inquiry."
The district official says she doesn't know who wrote the tweet.
Math coordinator Julie Merrill's Twitter profile is now gone. A message sent from her account stoked controversy.
It was a reply to a Florida shooting survivor who's now a target of conspiracy theories. It reads in part: "Crisis actor... don't be fooled..."
Irving ISD put out their own tweet, saying "they're aware of the post."
Merrill insists she "clicked on a link to read a post, and somehow a tweet got reposted as her."
Professor Allen Gwinn teaches information technology at SMU and believes there's more to the story.
"The topical nature of this just doesn't lend itself to her claim of a scam... it doesn't fit the profile of a scam," said Gwinn. "Usually these kinds of things, when they do happen, are because someone else has access to the Twitter account."
The district says there isn't an update and that they're still looking into the matter.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
