I can hear the chants now: only in Texas would this happen.
Maybe, maybe not. Anyhow, here’s the crux of it.
Two hunters — Michael Bryant and Walker Daughetry — have been charged with discharging deadly weapons illegally. They accidentally shot each other while on a hunting excursion in Presidio County along the Rio Grande River.
But wait! The shooting took place in early January. When they called for help, they then blamed the incident on “illegal aliens” they said were crossing the border.
It turns out they lied to investigators. There were no “illegal aliens.” They had discharged their weapons “in the direction of others,” meaning each other, which is a third-degree felony.
It gets even better than that.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, the loudmouth advocate for building a wall along our state’s border with Mexico, posted the bogus story on his Facebook page. Miller — who had been considered for a spot in Donald J. Trump’s Cabinet — said the incident proves the need to build the wall, per the president’s persistent mantra.
Well, the truth has come out. The hunters made it up. They were too embarrassed to tell authorities what really happened.
Miller’s Facebook post has since disappeared. The two men face some jail time if they’re convicted.
Is this what one would call “fake news”?