<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The death this week of an Infowars reporter in Austin has kicked off a slew of conspiracy theories about the killing itself. But the police said on Wednesday they believed that the reporter, Jamie White, was the victim of a random attack.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In a matter-of-fact update that did not address the conspiracy theories swirling in right-wing media, Austin police said that Mr. White, 36, was trying to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.austintexas.gov/news/homicide-investigation-2336-douglas-street" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">thwart his vehicle from being stolen</a> outside his apartment complex on Sunday night when someone shot him and fled. Mr. White later died at the hospital.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">When asked about the conspiracy theories, Jason Jones, the Police Department’s lead homicide investigator on the case replied, “We will follow the leads that develop in this case.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">That has not stopped Infowars’ founder, Alex Jones, from doing what he has long done: spread misinformation. Nearly three years <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/alex-jones-sandy-hook-damages.html" title="">after a jury found him liable</a> for almost $1 billion in damages for saying that the 2012 school shooting in <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/us/politics/alex-jones-infowars-sandy-hook.html" title="">Newtown, Conn., was a hoax</a>, the right-wing provocateur took to the air with speculation about Mr. White’s death.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The killing “could’ve been a hit,” Mr. Jones said on Tuesday in a YouTube interview with the conservative commentator Benny Johnson. He added: “What are the chances in a town of over two million people that an Infowars lead reporter gets butchered?”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Jones also claimed that Mr. White and Elon Musk were both on a hit list that originated in Ukraine and has asked the Justice Department to get involved. Before his death, Mr. White himself <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://x.com/whiteisthefury/status/1800946048753422402" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">posted on social media</a> last June that he was on a “Ukrainian ‘Enemies List,’” and claimed that it was tied to the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Central Intelligence Agency and the liberal financier George Soros.</p><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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