SEAL who shot Osama was killed? Nope, it's a death hoax

If you see posts floating around the Twittersphere that the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden is dead, don’t believe it.

The hoax claims that  “Navy SEAL Todd Jones,” the man responsible for bin Laden’s death, has now been killed in combat. First off, the name of the SEAL who shot Osama has never been released. Second, an official from Navy Personnel Command told Navy Times that there is no SEAL named Todd Jones in their database.

It’s unclear exactly where the hoax started. But it could be from this tweet by Deep Wizdom, a “teen speaking his mind,” according to his profile. It has been retweeted more than 10,000 times, and the hoax even duped Atlanta Braves superstar Chipper Jones.

Army Staff Sgt. Tim Kennedy, a mixed-martial artist and Green Beret, fell for the hoax, too. But he posted an angry retraction when he realized his mistake.

The Washington Post recently posted a blog about how to “kill someone” on Twitter, after rumors spread on the site last week that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died.