On Wednesday, the United States Secret Service published a social media post that has since been removed, inadvertently commemorating the 2,996 individuals who perished on September 11, 2001, a figure that encompassed the 19 hijackers.
“The flag hanging in our headquarters is a solemn reminder of 9/11 and our mission’s purpose. A testament to freedom and sacrifice, it honors all 2,996 lives lost, including our own Master Special Officer Craig T. Miller & Special Agent in Charge Charles L. Friend,” the organization wrote in a Wednesday morning post on X. The Secret Service seems to have removed the post shortly after 3 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.
Yikes. Secret Service includes the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 death tally. There were 2,977 victims, not 2,996 https://t.co/rLxymYGDSy pic.twitter.com/7MprACsNDb
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) September 11, 2024
The total of 2,996 encompasses the 19 al-Qaeda terrorists who commandeered four aircraft and executed the attacks. According to 911memorial.org, the assault resulted in the deaths of 2,977 individuals. When the 19 hijackers are included, the overall count of victims reaches 2,996. At 3:30 p.m., the Secret Service released a revised tweet reflecting the figure of 2,977 instead of 2,996.
This is a correction of an earlier version of this post. In the original post, we erroneously included the total number of deceased from the Sept 11 attacks, which included the hijackers. Our intent was to only honor the victims of that tragic day and we deeply apologize for the…
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) September 11, 2024
