Fact Check: Tim Walz Says, Without Evidence, His Son ‘Witnessed a Shooting at a Community Center’

CLAIM: Democrat Tim Walz claimed during Tuesday night’s Vice Presidential debate that his son “witnessed a shooting at a Community Center.”

VERDICT: Questionable. Numerous reports indicated the shooting occurred in the parking lot of a recreational center while Walz’s son Gus was inside the building.

The incident occurred January 18, 2023, after a fight outside was followed by another fight in which a recreational center employee was allegedly “punched” by teens and “felt threatened,”  according to KSTP. The employee stepped back from the teens, pulled his handgun and shot one of them.

CBS News reported the recreational facility employee, Exavir Dwayne Binford Jr., pleaded guilty to first degree assault in December 2023.

After Walz claimed his son witnessed a shooting, the Minnesota Star Tribune noted, “Gus Walz was in the building when the shooting occurred in the parking lot at the [recreational center].”

St. Paul Parks aquatics supervisor and coach, David Albornoz, indicated that he rushed out of the building toward where the teen had been shot while Gus, a sophomore at the time, stayed inside the gym.

Perhaps Gus witnessed the shooting by looking through a window?

When Walz mentioned the shooting at a September 12, 2024, campaign stop, he described things differently. NBC Miami quoted Walz’s September 12 comment as, “My own son was in a location where someone was shot in the head.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.