Fact check: Video shows looting from Canada in 2019, not Memphis

The claim: Video shows looting in Memphis, Tennessee 

A Jan. 28 Facebook video shows a group of people with their hoods tied tightly around their faces stealing from a store and leaving.

Text over the video says "#MemphisTN."

The video was shared more than 9,000 times in 10 days. Similar posts have been shared on Instagram and Facebook.

Comments under some versions of the video linked the video to the recent death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee. 

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Our rating: False

The video was filmed in a Manitoba liquor store in Winnipeg in 2019, according to local police and a store spokesperson. It is unrelated to recent protests in Memphis. 

Video was filmed in Canada in 2019

The video identifies the footage as being from Memphis, where protests have been held after the 29-year-old Nichols was beaten by police during a Jan. 7 traffic stop and later died.

But the video is neither from Memphis nor a recent event.

Ally Siatecki, a spokesperson for the Winnipeg Police Service, confirmed the video was filmed in Winnipeg in 2019 in an email to USA TODAY, adding that the store was a Manitoba Liquor Mart.

"Yes, this video is from a robbery at a Manitoba Liquor Mart in 2019," Laurel Trotter, a Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries spokesperson, said in an email to USA TODAY.

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Around the time the video first surfaced online, the store released a statement addressing the recent increase in theft, explaining that many of its stores would be fitted with controlled entrances as a security measure. 

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.

This claim has been debunked by AFP and Check Your Fact as well.

Our fact-check sources:

• USA TODAY, Jan. 18, Civil rights investigation opened in death of Tennessee man who died after police traffic stop
• USA TODAY, Jan. 31, Protests across the U.S. react to the death of Tyre Nichols
• Ally Siatecki, Feb. 7, Email exchange with USA TODAY
• Laurel Trotter, Feb. 8, Email exchange with USA TODAY
• Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, Nov. 21, 2019, Statement from Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Regarding Controlled Entrances at Liquor Marts
• AFP, Jan. 31, Liquor store robbery video misrepresented amid Memphis protests
• Check Your Fact, Feb. 6, FACT CHECK: DOES THIS VIDEO SHOW LOOTING IN MEMPHIS?

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