Taft High School Students On Twitter First Thought Shooting Lockdown Was Due To Raccoons, Opossums

Confusion surrounding the Taft High School shooting in California initially had students believing that the school was on lockdown because of opossums or raccoons that invaded the school, according to tweets that were shared by students just moments after the shooting took place on Thursday afternoon.

It’s not certain how the rumor originally started among the high school pupils, but while they were waiting to figure out why their school was in lockdownm, someone must have started a rumor that went viral when it was posted to Twitter with the hashtag “TaftProbz.”

Some were joking around and trying to figure out whether it was raccoons or opossums that had inhabited the school, while others made quips about grilling the animals for dinner. Others joined in on the rumor, spreading it across the social media site, even though they didn’t attend the high school.

At about 12:00 p.m., students began to write:

“So my friend from Taft told me she is on lockdown at school because of raccoons, lmfao #TaftProbz.”

“Oh you know, we have raccoons in Taft. No big deal. What's new though?” @simply_sulema lightly joked, clearly not realizing what had happened in the school.

“To bad taft isnt oc they used to catch raccoons for dinner they wood have been on the grill by now,” @ben_pena97 said, seemingly not understanding why Taft would be shut down because of raccoons.

“3 possums at Taft and the WHOLE school is on lockdown?! You have GOT to be kidding me. That's Taft for ya!” ‏@simply_eddieg, a student from Texas, tweeted, presumably before learning the real reason Taft High School was on lockdown.

“Taft on lockdown couse of a possum really lol,” another Twitter user complained about to the Twitterverse.

The Twitter users who posted about the raccoons and possums being the reason for Taft being on a lockdown didn’t immediately come back to the mini blog to correct their tweets, but others soon overtook the rumors, and the social media site erupted with condolences for those who were involved in the shooting.