ABC News tries its hand at sensationalism with a story on the VT killer buying “ammo” on the auction site Ebay, but muffs it badly getting all the relevant facts wrong. But it sure is a good headline…
Ammo from eBay? VT Killer May Haves Used Site
April 21, 2007 — ABCNews has learned that in the months before his shooting spree at Virginia Tech, Seung-Hui Cho may have purchased 20 rounds of ammunition through the online auction site eBay.
An eBay account holder who appears to be Cho purchased a two-pack of 10-round ammunition clips for a Walther P22 on March 22, 2007, less than a month before Cho killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech. The ammunition was purchased on eBay from Elk Ridge Shooting Supplies for the same type of weapon used by Cho in his bloody rampage last week.
Problem is, Ebay doesn’t sell ammunition… it doesn’t even sell guns. What the VT killer bought were clips (magazines), not “ammo”– if it was even him .
Will ABC News correct itself? Will ABC News admit it was not only misinformed on an easily checked issue, but acted with tabloid journalism to boot?
Keep watching and let’s see.