A survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida says his father found QAnon and now believes that the shooting was a hoax.
The 18-year-old graduate who was among the last class at the school during the shooting, revealed his dad is an anti-masker and “turned to the internet to find like-minded people which led him to QAnon,” according to VICE News. He says his fathers views began a “couple months into the pandemic with the whole anti-lockdown protests.”
“From there it snowballed into what he is today, believing that if the government is able to overthrow an election, then everything else is probably a lie too,” the student, who went by the alias “Bill,” told the publication.
Bill also revealed that his father believed his classmates were “paid pawns” in a grand conspiracy controlled by some unknown force.
Bill also added that his father claims that shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, who is expected to face trial in September, was “a radical commie actor,” despite the shooting ending in 17 people dead and as one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Nine of the students killed were Bill’s classmates and Bill claims his father’s backwards claims about the deadly attack began after he saw a video of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene harassing Parkland survivor David Hogg in 2018.
“He’ll never stop on his own because there are always new theories and goalposts being moved,” Bill said of his father. “I don’t know how to help someone that far gone.”
Bill hopes to get out of his situation with his father soon.
