GOP lawmaker claims without evidence that YouTube shooter ‘could be’ an illegal immigrant

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) speculated without evidence Tuesday that the shooter at YouTube headquarters could be an “illegal immigrant,” as news of the shooting was breaking.

Rohrabacher made the unsubstantiated comments while appearing on Fox Business on Tuesday, during the network’s breaking news coverage of the shooting.

“You were going to discuss with me ‘sanctuary cities’ and the sanctuary state movement, and it fits right into what you’re talking about right now. Would anyone be surprised?” Rohrabacher said.

“We have a state government in California that’s trying to prevent our law enforcement people from working with the federal law enforcement people to get together the criminal illegal aliens,” he said.

{mosads}

“Would anyone right now listening to you think, ‘Well, this certainly wouldn’t be an illegal immigrant there.’ Well, it could be. Everybody knows that it could be.”

Rohrabacher did not provide evidence to support his claim and the reporter on the air did not challenge his statement.

Law enforcement responded to an active shooter at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., on Tuesday.

Officials said a woman they believe to be the shooter was found dead on the scene with a self-inflicted wound. Four other people were transported to the hospital with injuries.

Rohrabacher, who could face a tough reelection fight in November, has been known to make baseless claims in the past. He pushed a conspiracy theory last year that the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., involved Civil War re-enactors manipulated by “left-wingers … in order to have this confrontation.”