Viral post says man was arrested for fixing lights at KC park. It’s AI-generated
In a TikTok that’s now brought in over 2 million views, a Kansas City man was allegedly arrested in Swope Park for doing a public service.
The problem is ... none of it was real.
The social media post containing three photos showed the supposed suspect’s mugshot, a shot of park-goers utilizing the fixed floodlights the suspect was reportedly arrested for repairing and a picture of the suspect standing and enjoying the community he brought back to the park.
Titled “No permit, just purpose,” the post shared that 38-year-old electrician and father of two Andre Tillman was arrested last week and charged with “tampering with public utilities, unauthorized electrical work and modification of municipal property without a permit” for fixing broken floodlights at a park basketball court with a borrowed cherry picker and electrical parts he purchased himself.
However, Tillman is an AI-generated creation who only exists in pixels. The story wasn’t true.
Still, the fabricated arrest prompted viewers to flood the comments in support of the AI-generated suspect, as well as to create at least three GoFundMe’s.
Fallout to the fake news was swift.
“This fundraiser, as well as any others connected to the situation, were removed from the platform for violating GoFundMe’s Terms of Service,” a spokesperson for GoFundMe said, noting their team swiftly removed the fundraisers and refunded the $195 raised back to donors. The spokesperson said GoFundMe’s Giving Guarantee offers a full refund when something isn’t right, and that they’re continuing to monitor the platform.
In an email to the Star, Kansas City spokeswoman and press secretary Sherae Honeycutt said, “Kansas City is aware of a viral TikTok video claiming that a man named Andre Tillman was arrested in Swope Park for replacing lights using a borrowed cherry picker. This claim is entirely false.”
The Kansas City Police Department confirmed that no such arrest occurred, Honeycutt stated, adding there is no record of an incident matching the description.
“The images circulating with the post appear to be AI-generated and do not reflect real events,” Honeycutt said, stating the public should verify information through official sources and be cautious of misleading content on social media.
“The spread of false claims undermines public trust and can divert resources from legitimate concerns,” said Honeycutt.
‘Never my intent’
The creater of the viral post, however, said he never intended for his AI creation to get so much attention.
“I never intended on this post to get so big and grow so large,” said Wesley Cray, the owner and creator of the TikTok account @itysknow, which created the post.
“It was never my intent to have people reaching out to public officials trying to draw their attention into this because they have bigger things that they need to worry about,” Cray told The Star this week.
Cray said he created the account for a passive income after seeing the money that AI-generated content can bring. Now, Cray’s videos serve as the latest example of how convincing AI can be.
“I think that this kind of sparks a bigger conversation about media literacy right now,” said Cray.
“I think that people as a whole have a pretty good understanding of what is AI and what’s not, but as time progresses and as AI continues to improve, those lines between what is real and what is fake are going to continually be more and more blurry.”
While Cray labeled his videos as AI-generated per TikTok’s guidelines, many viewers were still convinced that the story was true, with one user commenting “Mr. Andre Tillman, I stand with you, Sir. Please post a GoFundMe so we could contribute. You are an example of what GOOD MEN should do for their community. Shame on local officials and the snitch.”
Although Cray had no hand in the creation of any GoFundMe fundraisers claiming to be Tillman, three separate fundraisers were created in support of him, his wife and children.
“I tried deleting all the ones I saw,” said Cray. “I was deleting them because I’m not trying to misguide people here, I’m not trying to get people to send me money. That wasn’t the point, right? In my mind that’s fraud and I want to stay away from that. I’m trying to legitimately make a passive income.”
But if the reason for this post wasn’t to spread misinformation, why was it created at all?
“I was really just trying to evoke emotion, promote engagement and just get the conversation started with people,” said Cray. “If you go through the comments, you see people on both sides of it. Majority of them are saying ‘Free Andre Tillman’ and how he shouldn’t have been charged. However, there’s people on the other side who say ‘You know, this guy’s a licensed electrician. He knew what he was doing. And even though it sucks, he knew this was a potential outcome.”
This comes after a previous viral post on Cray’s account regarding another AI-generated story of a Springfield man who was arrested for installing a crosswalk. The uproar from that false arrest narrative prompted viewers to start a petition on change.org.
This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 5:23 PM.
