"Disrespectful and shameful": Ted Cruz slammed as tweet template goes viral in wake of Texas mall shooting

A viral tweet template of American politician Ted Cruz sharing the same condolence message while responding to multiple mass shooting incidents in the country was slammed online. On May 6, 2023, eight people were shot to death outside the Allen Premium Outlets mall by a gunman, who the authorities believe was acting alone and is reportedly dead.

The shooter was gunned down by a police officer responding to an unrelated complaint after hearing gunshots. There are reports that some of the victims are minors. At least seven patients are hospitalized, three of whom are in critical condition.

Following the mass killing, Senator Ted Cruz shared a condolence message on his Twitter handle for the families of the victims.

He also thanked the police officer who killed the shooter and added that his team is in touch with the local authorities.

However, soon after he tweeted this message, netizens began sharing a pattern of same tweets being shared by Cruz after these tragic mass shootings happen. A user wrote that they found his messages "disrespectful & shameful" since he seemed to have "duplicated the same tweet after every mass shooting in TX."

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Twitter users react to Ted Cruz's as they find his recent alleged tweets on mass shooting being a duplicate of his previous ones

After Ted Cruz's condolence tweet template went viral, Twitteratis were furious. Several users responded to the senator's tweet with the viral template and mocked him for his words. Meanwhile, others slammed him for taking no action regarding the repeated mass shootings happening in Texas and dubbed his condolence message as "disgusting."

Screenshot of a Twitter user remarking on Cruz's response template.

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Ted Cruz's viral tweet template is fake

As per news outlet Boom, Ted Cruz's viral template of condolence message is actually fake except for one tweet. Additionally, this is not the first time that the template has come to the limelight.

The template, which consists of 12 tweets, was first shared by a Twitter user @14storiesCA after the recent Nashville school shooting, criticizing Cruz, who has been against tighter gun control laws in the US and against gun control legislation.

On March 27, 2023, a shooter opened fire at a private Christian school in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, killing six people, including three children and three staff members. The gunman was identified by the police as 28-year-old former student Audrey Hale. Officers fired and killed Hale shortly after their arrival at the scene of the crime.

As per NBC News, Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake stated that the perpetrator was a transgender person and added that it was too early in the investigation to determine if this played a role in the incident.

In the viral template, the first tweet reads:

“Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde. We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding. Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly.”

The other tweets have the same template, except the only thing changed is the name of the place from Uvade to the ones affected by mass shootings. The places include New York, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Rochester, El Paso, Virginia Beach, Pittsburgh, Parkland, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Newtown.

However, after doing an advanced Twitter search, the website found that all the screenshots, except for the Uvalde one, were fake and had different texts.

Screenshot of advanced Twitter search of Ted Cruz's tweets.

As of writing, Ted Cruz has not responded to the allegations put on him related to viral condolence thread.