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WHEN YOU ASSUME...

Kamala Harris’ niece Meena slammed for presuming Syrian-born Boulder ‘shooter’ Ahmad Alissa was white

IN A deleted tweet, President Kamala Harris' niece presumed the Colorado mass shooter was white because he was taken into custody alive.

"The Atlanta shooting was not even a week ago. Violent white men are the greatest terrorist threat to our country," Meena Harris wrote in the since-deleted tweet.

Vice President Kamala Harris' niece deleted a tweet calling the gunman in Colorado's mass shooting white
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Vice President Kamala Harris' niece deleted a tweet calling the gunman in Colorado's mass shooting whiteCredit: meenaharris/Instagram
Meena Harris deleted this tweet presuming the gunman was white because he was taken into custody
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Meena Harris deleted this tweet presuming the gunman was white because he was taken into custodyCredit: @meenaharris/Twitter

Harris was referring to  Sooper grocery store on Monday.

Harris admitted her mistake on Tuesday and deleted the tweet due to the assumption.

"I deleted a previous tweet about the suspect in the Boulder shooting," .

"I made an assumption based on his being taken into custody alive and the fact that the majority of mass shootings in the U.S. are carried out by white men."

Ahmed Alissa, 21, was born in Syria and grew up in the United States
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Ahmed Alissa, 21, was born in Syria and grew up in the United StatesCredit: EPA
She then apologized for the tweet, receiving plenty of backlash for doing an about-face
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She then apologized for the tweet, receiving plenty of backlash for doing an about-faceCredit: @meenaharris/Twitter

The Vice President's niece wasn't the only person who assumed the gunman's racial identity before authorities confirmed Alissa was of Syrian descent.

"The shooter is was taken into custody. In other words it was almost certainly a white man (again). If he were Black or Brown he would be dead," feminist author Amy Siskind.

Siskind then tried to defend herself when met with online critics, "His name does not determine skin color. Nor does his religion. His skin appears white, and by the numbers, the vast majority of mass shooters are committed by white men."

Harris played a prominent role on her aunt's campaign and later on after it was announced she would join Biden's ticket.

People commented about her tweet and subsequent apology, like conservative editor Brent Scher, who "Apology maybe worse than the original tweet?"

Veteran filmmaker Jack Posobiec "So you lied," while others defended her saying she was right to make the assumption given the large number of mass shootings that are perpetrated by white men.

Kamala Harris condemns Atlanta shootings and says it was a ‘heinous act of violence’
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