The rumored death of Sharkeisha, a Houston teen who punched and beat a classmate senseless in a video that went viral last month, was trending last night.
Not unlike allegations that Paul Walker faked his death, which also stemmed from bogus online sources, it appears to be a hoax. Sharkeisha is alive and well.
Or at least alive. She’s not well in the head, clearly.
The Twitter account “Queen Sharkeisha,” claiming to be the infamous video attacker, alleged that she had been gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
The account posted a photo of a young woman in the hospital.
The photo used was not Sharkeisha, however, and was actually from an old New York Post article about a 42-year-old named Karen Brim (see below).
A comedy site, Huzlers (dot) com also posted the story about her being shot before the aforementioned Tweet. It’s unclear if the two acts were coordinated.
In any case, the Twitter user claiming to be Sharkeisha wrote alongside the unrelated photo: “2 shots, 12 stitches and still breathing. THANK YOU LORD.”
There was no actual media coverage of the incident, but the story spread, and the terms “RIP Sharkiesha” and “Prayforsharkeisha” began trending on Twitter.
For no reason whatsoever. This didn’t actually happen.
About an hour later, the account wrote to its 41,000 followers: “I am forever The Queen,” while re-tweeting a number of messages saying “she” was shot.
“Sharkeisha got killed bruh? Gah damn the game [expletive] up RIP,” reads one tweet that was re-tweeted by the “Queen Sharkeisha” account.
As for Huzlers, which said “Word on the street Sharkeisha is dead… Tun tun tun…,” on Facebook, it calls itself a website “for your daily laugh.”
Whether anyone’s laughing or not, it doesn’t seem the least bit credible. Nor is there anything to suggest this actually happened to the troubled teen.
Last month, the video of Sharkeisha punching and beating another teen, ShaMichael Manuel (below), hit the web, generating tens of millions of views.
The viral clip spread even more quickly than this death hoax.
Incredibly, Manuel forgives her for the sucker punch heard ’round the world. So #Prayforsharkeisha indeed. Not because she was shot, but so she gets help.
Treybo 