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Andy Ngo 'blamed' for Portland shooter Ben Smith's actions as Internet outrage spreads

Many on social media claimed the journalist was responsible for radicalizing the shooter and called for him to be deplatformed

The conservative journalist Andy Ngo was blamed for a shooting that took place in Portland, Oregon after witnesses said a man confronted protesters and opened fire Saturday night, February 19. The suspect was reportedly a fan of Andy Ngo.

The 36-year-old Ngo has himself been physically assaulted by alleged Antifa members multple times while covering demonstrations in the past. But this time netizens were baying for his blood amid claims that shooting suspect Benjamin Jeffrey Smith, a 43-year-old machinist, was a fan of the journalist and had subscribed to Ngo's YouTube channel.

Smith was reportedly embroiled in an altercation with a group of protesters holding a “justice for Amir Locke” demonstration at Normandale Park. Locke, a black man, was killed by Minneapolis authorities while serving a no-knock warrant earlier this month.

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Witnesses told The Oregonian that despite attempts to de-escalate the situation, Smith opened fire into the crowd, killing 60-year-old June Knightly and injuring four others. Protestors subsequently returned fire and hit Smith, who is currently hospitalized in critical condition. The 43-year-old machinist has been living for 14 years across the street from Normandale Park, where the shooting took place. While his social media accounts reportedly suggested a wide variety of interests and influences, many singled out his subcription of Andy Ngo's YouTube channel and alleged the shooter was radicalized by the journalist, who had sent out a tweet about the protest, saying: "#Antifa held a memorial at Normandale Park on Sunday for their comrades by vandalizing the park with graffiti", adding other allegations about the protestors in the same tweet.

"Andy Ngo is a stochastic terrorist, whose fascist propaganda campaigns kill innocent people. The fact that he still has a Twitter account to help him do this is fucking absurd, @Twitter," one tweeted. "Andy Ngo spreads his hate and racism so people like the Portland shooter follow up with the actions as recently happened," another wrote. 

"The mass shooter Ben Smith murdered someone in the name of Andy Ngo," another comment alleged. "You can always tell who the bad actors are and then easily find more of them when you look to see who follows and agrees with them. For example, Andy Ngo," someone else added. "I wonder how many other Ben Smiths and Lyndon McLeods are reading the alarmist tweets by Andy Ngo right now and having a violent Rittenhouse fantasy," another chimed in.

Others, however, defended Ngo and called out the apparent hypocrisy of Antifa and Black Lives Matter sympathizers. "It’s all too predictable that crazy leftists are tying a furry named Polybun to Andy Ngo, Kyle Rittenhouse, and the “alt-right” because he shot up a leftist rally when they were dead ass silent and failed to tie Darrell Brooks to BLM. And so it goes. Back and forth," one tweeted.

"Antifa accounts went on a massive cover-up spree after the shooting, literally telling each other to delete shit because it was incriminating, it’s pretty fucking obvious the narrative they’re painting about an evil Andy Ngo controlled shooter isn’t the actual story," another wrote. "They are blaming him for what one of his fans did....the same people that ignore the BLM member who shot a Jewish mayor and was bailed out by BLM," someone else offered. "The same people who call for his death almost daily are saying he incited this shooting because the dude was one of his (over 1 million) followers. Makes sense, if you don't think about it," another observed.

The Portland Police Bureau described the Saturday incident as "complicated" in a press release issued Sunday afternoon. They said "investigators are trying to put this puzzle together without having all the pieces" and urged anyone with related information to contact the authorities.