Photo shows late Aflac board member, not Derek Chauvin attacker

"THIS GUY stabbed derek chauvin 22 times?? dude got got by the kindest sweetest looking man," says a December 2, 2023 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The post includes a portrait of a smiling bald man with a beard.

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Screenshot from X, formerly Twitter, taken December 6, 2023

The post is one of several that shared the image across X and other platforms -- including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok -- after prosecutors with the US Attorney's Office in the state of Arizona announced the charges against Turscak on December 1.

Turscak, 52, is accused of stabbing another inmate -- who an official source confirmed to AFP was Chauvin -- approximately 22 times with an improvised knife, according to a statement and criminal complaint (archived here and here). Chauvin survived the November 24 attack.

The former Minnesota police officer is serving a 22-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died gasping for air in 2020 while Chauvin kneeled on his neck. The highly publicized incident, captured on video, sparked racial justice protests across the United States.

Turscak told corrections officers he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday, the popular retail sales event that takes place the day after Thanksgiving, to invoke the Black Lives Matter movement. He said he would have killed Chauvin had authorities not responded so quickly, according to court documents.

But the picture spreading online does not show Turscak.

Using PimEyes, a facial recognition tool, and reverse image and keyword searches, AFP identified the man in the photo as John Shelby Amos II, who died November 30, 2023 (archived here and here).

Local news outlets featured the image -- flipped horizontally in some of the posts misrepresenting it online -- in reports saying Amos died after a brief illness at the age of 71 (archived here and here).

"The photo ... shows John Shelby Amos II, former member of the board of directors at Aflac," company spokesperson John Sullivan told AFP in a December 6 email.

Son of the principal founder of Aflac, Amos held several roles at the insurance company over the years. He also owned a hockey team in Columbus, Georgia, for more than 17 years, according to the reports.

The complaint against Turscak does not include a photo, though records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons list him as a white male.

The FBI referred AFP to the US Attorney's Office in Arizona, which said it does not provide mug shots for defendants.

"We do not have a mug shot or additional information to provide as to Mr Turscak," public affairs officer Zach Stoebe told AFP in a December 6 email.

Turscak is serving a 30-year prison sentence handed down in 2001, according to court records from 2005 (archived here). The Los Angeles Times reported in 2001 that Turscak was a former gang member who committed crimes while working as an FBI informant -- details that other court filings from 2008 appear to corroborate (archived here and here).

AFP has debunked other misinformation about Chauvin here and here.