School board candidate who mis-ID’ed Westgate shooter quits

PHOENIX (AP) — A school board candidate who caused an uproar when he misidentified the gunman in last week’s Westgate Entertainment District shooting as a “left-wing LGBTQ” college student has quit the race.

Scott Weinberg announced on Facebook on Tuesday that he is dropping his campaign for Kyrene School District Governing Board, which covers schools in several Phoenix suburbs. All campaign contributions will be refunded, he said.

A 20-year-old man went to the Westgate retail complex in Glendale last Wednesday and wounded three people with an assault rifle, according to police.

Investigators identified the suspect the following morning as Armando Hernandez Jr. of Peoria. In a tweet, Weinberg asserted an Arizona State University student who happened to have the exact same name was the shooter. He linked his tweet to a picture of the openly gay student on a list of youth ambassadors for an LGBTQ advocacy group.

Weinberg later apologized and deleted his Twitter account.

In his Facebook post, Weinberg reiterated his apology to the student and the LGBTQ community for the controversy.