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Screenshot from Facebook taken March 19, 2026<\/p>\n
Similar posts spread across Facebook and other platforms<\/a> such as X<\/a>, including<\/a> in Arabic<\/a> and Spanish<\/a>.<\/p>\n The posts come as Tehran and\u00a0Iran-backed Huthi rebels<\/a> in Yemen have fired retaliatory attacks against Israel, including the southernmost city of Eilat<\/a>, after US-Israeli strikes on February 28 killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and thrust the\u00a0Middle East into war<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the video of a crowd scattering across a beach is misrepresented.<\/p>\n Reverse image searches<\/a> surfaced news reports<\/a> and social media posts<\/a> connecting the footage to Daytona Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n The earliest iterations appeared on TikTok in a pair<\/a> of March 14 posts<\/a> that said the video was filmed from the 20th floor of a hotel (archived\u00a0here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Screenshot from TikTok taken March 19, 2026<\/p>\n In a follow-up post<\/a> two days later, the account holder explained he captured the footage during a spring-break gathering at the beach (archived here<\/a>). He said that while some people believed there had been a gunshot, it “was a firework” that caused the crowd to scatter during a celebration that he described as otherwise peaceful.<\/p>\n On Facebook<\/a>, however, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said the incident was actually the result of people in the crowd crushing water bottles (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n “There were no shootings on the beach this weekend,” the March 16 post said.<\/p>\n “Widespread videos posted online this weekend falsely claimed crowds were running from shots fired. These videos were also picked up by news media. In reality, the panic started due to the sound of crushed water bottles or in some cases, people running from the tides.”<\/p>\n The post added that four shooting investigations over the weekend all involved unrelated incidents that happened off the beach.<\/p>\n Sheriff Michael Chitwood told media in a March 16 briefing<\/a> that the rumor of a shooting on the beach was “a lie,” and that he\u00a0and 50 deputies were inside the crowd throughout the gathering and could personally verify that “there were zero gunshots on the beach.”<\/p>\n “What they were doing was crushing a water bottle to make it sound like a gunshot to stampede the crowd,” he said.<\/p>\n Photos<\/a> published online and Google Earth satellite imagery<\/a> show a matching pool and patio belonging to the Daytona Grande Oceanfront Resort, further corroborating the location (archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Screenshot from TikTok taken March 19, 2026, with elements outlined by AFP<\/p>\n Screenshot from Google Earth taken March 19, 2026, with elements outlined by AFP<\/p>\n AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the Middle East war\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"<span>Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/955ac3e0697b54f288cf54fad2f0c49d.jpeg\"\/)
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