CNN falsely claimed that the New York shooter, Shane Tamura, was 'white'.

Erin Burnett, CNN journalist, was heavily criticized after stating that the shooter who opened fire in a skyscraper in downtown Manhattan, killing a New York police officer and three other people, was "possibly white," based on the first security images released shortly after the attack carried out by Shane Tamura.

In the photographs initially published online, Tamura, 27 years old, appears in broad daylight walking toward 345 Park Avenue, carrying a Palmetto State Armory AR-15 rifle.

During a broadcast aired Monday night, Burnett pointed out that, according to "police information," the striker was wearing “sunglasses, mustache, was a man, and possibly white.”

However, the shocking image of Tamura wielding the AR-15 seemed to show him with a darker skin tone or ethnically diverse features.

Numerous social media users targeted Erin Burnett, considering her comment to be hasty and based on assumptions. “It could be a lot of different things, basically anything BUT white,” read one comment that went viral on social media. “CNN should be shut down. It seems like they haven't published a truthful story in ages,” added another on X.

The massacre

A New York police officer, Didarul Islam, 36 years old, was killed in the building's lobby, while three other civilians, still unidentified, also lost their lives when Shane Tamura attacked the luxurious Midtown skyscraper Monday afternoon before taking his own life, according to police.

The striker, 27 years old, violently entered the 44-story building, headquarters of the financial firm Blackstone and the NFL, with a rifle in hand, and began shooting around 6:30 p.m., right during rush hour, authorities revealed.

Tamura had a history related to his mental health. According to New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch, at a press conference Monday night, the attack began as soon as he set foot in the lobby, where he first killed Officer Islam.