Update to include fleet comments in paragraph 4
A U.S. Navy official with her dog is not the person who rescued a Texas Navy base from a militant attack in May 2020, as more than 345,000 users on social media suggest. Yaisa Coburn is the woman who played a key role in rescuing the base, while the woman is in Boyd’s photos, and photos show she has no resemblance to Coburn.
The reports (of these, one of which is (here) from May 2020, but will be shared in April 2021 (here, here) have the following caption accompanying the photo, ‘This last Thursday morning, May 21, was a Syrian-American terrorist armed. with an AR-15, a shotgun and a pistol planned to shoot the gatekeeper, enter the naval base in Corpus Christi, Texas and kill as many as possible at the base. “Ceramic weapons stopped the bullet, but the force hit her on the ground. She was able to activate the final denial barrier before the terrorist could go through, and save unknown lives.”
This description refers to a shooting at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas on May 21, 2020 by a Syrian-born American citizen (here, here).
Francoise Kieschnick, Corpus Christi (NASCC) public aviation office, told Reuters in an email: “The photo is not of the sailor involved. The Sailor – looks like the name tag “Boyd” does not appear on NASCC either. “
The U.S. Navy’s website description of the incident is very similar to the messages on social media. It identifies the woman as non-commissioned officer Yaisa Coburn, second-class master-in-arms, and describes how she was shot in her protective vest by an armed suspect, but activated the ‘final denial block, radio transmission and firing back’ immediately, before ‘neutralizes’ the gunman with the help of another officer, not alone, as social media reports.
Coburn is pictured here on the U.S. Navy website. Another photo of Coburn can be seen here on the Naval Station Corpus Christi Facebook page, where her name is visible on her certificate. Coburn does not appear to have an agreement with the woman posted on social media.
The name “Boyd” is written on the right side of the woman in the social media message. The name on the front of this U.S. Navy uniform is probably that of the person: see this Reuters photo here where the word “Bautista” on U.S. Navy board member Luz Bautista’s uniform is in the same place and other examples of Navy uniform here and there here.
The Tarheel Canine Training website shows here that the photo’s American dog handler Amanda Boyd with her dog Omar, who received a specially painted snout, was sponsored by one of their Pet Obedience Trainers.
VERDICT
Failure. While the report provides a highly accurate description of the incident at the Texas Navy Base, the woman described is Yaisa Coburn, who is not the woman pictured.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.