User blog comment:DYBAD/Character Sheet/@comment-24955665-20141004152616/@comment-4867780-20141004160248

The original Alex Mercer died before being infected by the Blacklight virus, so the virus basically reanimated Alex and took on his identity. If Alex was still alive, it would probably have been him gaining powers through the virus. Though in practice the difference is thin, and indeed it's just semantics.

Same for Lawrence, though due to the shard lack of traits, it can be mostly seen as him gaining powers through the shard, and the shard blending in him.