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A post circulating on social media - 48,000 shares and counting so far - depicts still images of two news reports, one in California in August 2017 and one in Florida in February 2018 after the Parkland school shooting.

The post alleges that both images depict the same man, David Hogg:

two screenshots of news presentation s showing witnesses with similar physical appearance

The allegation is that he is a "crisis actor", paid to pretend to be a witness/survivor of events that he was not actually present at, or that did not take place at all. I know there were similar allegations about the Sandy Hook shooting a couple of years back.

I don't think we can answer whether he's a crisis actor or not and I don't know what the event he "witnessed" in August 2017 is. Is it the same man in both of these images?

Evan Carroll
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F1Krazy
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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/73563/discussion-on-question-by-f1krazy-do-these-pictures-depict-the-same-man-after-tw). – Sklivvz Feb 23 '18 at 07:28
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    This question would really benefit from a link to someone actually calling the event in 2017 a "crisis". Otherwise this question amounts to "I saw the same guy on TV twice, can it be true?" – pipe Feb 25 '18 at 19:43

2 Answers2

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Both photos are legitimate and depict the same person (David Hogg), but the picture on top from August 2017 is from a story about Hogg and his friend getting in an argument with a beach lifeguard.

The picture on the bottom shows Hogg in a CNN interview pertaining to his experience in the Florida shooting.

While Hogg was involved in both events, most would not consider the incident in California a "crisis."

BobTheAverage
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awells
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    Some more evidence, a classmate of his posted the 2017 high school yearbook showing that Hogg was, in fact, enrolled at the school for the year 2017. https://mobile.twitter.com/_Joey_Wong/status/966167560080289792 . In case you wanted to add the link to the answer to clarify that he was in fact enrolled there. – Knetic Feb 22 '18 at 03:18
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According to MSD senior David Hogg goes viral on youtube (01 December 2017):

In Redondo Beach, Calif., Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior David Hogg and his friend Thomas decided to spend their summer afternoon at Topaz Jetty, a local beach buzzing with visitors. Their excursion took an unexpected turn, ultimately going viral, when Thomas, who was a frequent visitor to the beach, set his boogie board on a trash can to prevent it from getting sandy.

...

"I expected the outcome of my video to essentially be some reaction because I knew the lifeguard was being a bit of a jerk, but I never expected it to go that viral,” Hogg said. “By the time the news contacted me I was already kind of expecting it because the video had over 600,000 views.”.

It is no surprise that Hogg’s first instinct was to pull out his camera when faced with a potential threat. Through his reporting experience at WMSD-TV, the TV Production program at MSD, Hogg has proficient camera and editing skills — and they have clearly paid off as shown by the number of views on his video.

“I’m always living in the moment and trying to get the best shot that I can, and expose and record important things happening” said Hogg.

So yes it is the same David Hogg from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Hogg also discusses both incidents on his twitter: https://twitter.com/davidhogg111 (see August 2017 for the beach incident).

Community
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DavePhD
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    The interesting part of this is the *Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School* identification in December. Conspiracy theorists might take this as a further item missed by the authorities before February – Henry Feb 21 '18 at 12:43
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    @Henry The source of that article *appears* to be directly related (officially or unofficially) to the school. – GalacticCowboy Feb 21 '18 at 19:13
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    The _Eagle Eye_ article only establishes that the David Hogg who appeared in the California "crisis" was a student at MSD. Strictly speaking, that's not the same as establishing that he's the same person -- there could be two people of the same name at a school with over 3000 pupils. The Twitter feed is more direct. – David Richerby Feb 22 '18 at 09:27
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    Two people at the same school in the same class with the same name who look identical? – DJClayworth Mar 05 '18 at 14:28