Owner of video of alleged shooting added gunshot audio for social media attention

Fall River police have issued an update concerning the alleged shooting that occurred in the city.

On Monday June 24, 2019, the Fall River Police released a video requesting the assistance of the public with identifying individuals that were involved in an alleged stabbing incident. Numerous tips were submitted aiding in the investigation.

The facts of the case are that the Fall River Police Department responded to a report of an alleged stabbing incident in the area of Locust and Rock Street. Officers were unable to find any victims or witnesses of the crime. It also was unclear where the incident actually occurred.

Several days later, a viral video was brought to the attention of Fall River Police. The video contained audio recordings of the altercation as well as video. During the playback at a certain point there were sounds as if gunfire occurred. This is what lead investigators to believe that there was a possible shooting. The video clearly depicts several persons of interest that investigators were looking to question. The video was posted to Facebook with the intention of identifying the individuals in the video and uncovering further leads.

After FRPD released the video, the owner of the surveillance system that captured the footage contacted the Fall River Police Department. After an interview with that individual, it was determined that the “edited” video which was posted was not completely authentic to the events that occurred that evening. The owner of the video admitted to police that he added the audio of gunshots as a way to create drama and posted the video to his Facebook page instead of notifying police of the incident being captured on his system.

The altercation and alleged stabbing remains under investigation. There is no evidence of a shooting or any witnesses that called to report one. There also has been no evidence found that a potential stabbing even occurred. The Major Crimes Division is still investigating at this time.

After speaking with the owner of the surveillance system, it was clear that he edited the video to embellish the incident and create social media attention.

The Fall River Police stated that they do not condone this type of behavior and encourage those that have video surveillance systems to properly report these incidents to the police.