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When a shooter started shooting inside a university building On the Brown University campus, students didn’t wait for official alerts announcing problems. They got information almost instantly, in bits and pieces – through phones that vibrated in their pockets, messages from strangers, rumors that seemed urgent because they might keep someone alive.
On December 13, while the attack on the Ivy League institution During exam week, students turned to Sidechat, a campus-specific anonymous discussion board widely used at U.S. universities, for quick, real-time information.
An Associated Press analysis of nearly 8,000 posts published 36 hours after the shooting shows how central social media has become to how students handle campus emergencies.
Fifteen minutes before the university’s first active shooter alert, students were already documenting the chaos. Their messages – raw, fragmented and sometimes panicked – formed a digital time capsule depicting how a college campus experienced a mass shooting.
As students sheltered in place, they posted while hiding under library tables, crouching in classrooms and hallways. Some comments even came from injured students, like this one posting a selfie from a hospital bed with the simple caption: #finalsweek.
Others asked urgent questions: Was there a lockdown? Where was the shooter? Was it safe to move?
It would be days before authorities identified the suspect and found him dead in New Hampshire from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, later linking him to the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.
Here’s a look at how the shooting unfolded.
Collective consciousness flow
Described by Harvard Magazine as “the collective stream of consciousness of the College,” Sidechat allows anyone with a verified college email address to post to a campus newsfeed. Most days, Brown’s feed is filled with complaints about dining hall food, jokes about professors, and test stress — fleeting messages that run the gamut of student life.
On Saturday afternoon, just before the shooting, a student said he wished he could “play Minecraft for 60 hours straight.” Then, the messages suddenly changed.
Crowds began streaming out of Brown’s Barus and Holley building, and someone posted at 4:06 p.m.: “Why are people fleeing B&H?” »
Others quickly followed. “EVERYONE COVERS UP,” one wrote. “STAY AWAY FROM THAYER STREET NEAR MACMILLAN 2 PEOPLE JUST GOT SHOT I DIED SERIOUSLY,” another user wrote at 4:10 p.m.
Dozens of frantic messages followed as students attempted to fill the information gap themselves.
“So we’re on lockdown or something,” one student asked.
By the time the university alert was sent out at 4:21 p.m., the shooter was no longer on campus — a fact Brown officials did not yet know.
“Where would we be without Sidechat? one student wrote.
A university spokesperson said Brown’s alert reached 20,000 people minutes after school public safety officials were notified that shots had been fired. Authorities deliberately did not use sirens to avoid sending people scrambling for cover, said the spokesman, Brian E. Clark, who added that Brown had ordered two external reviews of the response in an effort to improve public safety and security.
Long hours hiding
Long after sunset, students took refuge in dark dorms and study rooms. The blinds were closed. The doors were barricaded with dressers, beds and mini-fridges.
“The door is locked, the windows are locked. I balanced a metal pipe on the handle, so if someone tries the handle from the outside it will make a loud noise,” one student wrote.
Students reacted to every noise: footsteps in the hallways, distant sirens, helicopters overhead. When the alerts came, the vibrations and ringing were jarring. Some feared the names of the dead would be released and that they might recognize someone they knew.
Law enforcement moved through campus buildings, clearing them floor by floor.
A student who fled Barus and Holley asked if someone could text his parents to let them know he made it out safe. Others said they left their phones in classrooms when they fled, unable to reach distraught loved ones. Ironically, it was often the people closest to the shooting who had the least information.
Many American students expressed emotions ranging from numbness to grief.
“I just received a message from a friend I haven’t spoken to in almost three years,” one student wrote. “Our latest messages? Checking on her after the Michigan State shooting.” Several students responded, saying they had similar experiences.
International students have posted about parents unable to sleep halfway around the world.
“I just want a hug from my mom,” one student wrote.
Anxiety sets in
As the hours dragged on, students struggled to meet their basic needs. Some described urinating in trash cans or empty laundry detergent bottles because they were too scared to leave their rooms. Others talked about drinking to cope.
“I was in the street when it happened and all of a sudden I got really scared,” one student wrote. “I ran and didn’t calm down for a while. I feel numb, tired and about to throw up.”
Another wrote: “I’m locked inside! I haven’t eaten anything today! I’m so scared I don’t even know if I’ll come out alive or dead.”
Some students posted early in the morning, after more than 10 hours of confinement, saying they couldn’t sleep. Sidechat also documented acts of kindness, including a student going door to door with mac and cheese cups in a dark dorm room.
Information and its limits
Students repeatedly asked the same questions – any new ones? sources? – and challenged themselves to verify what they saw before reposting it.
“Frankly, I would rather hear misinformation than have people not report what they heard,” one student wrote.
Others pushed back, sharing a Google Document which would extend up to 28 pages where students could find the most recent and verified information. Some have published transcripts scanned by police or warned against relying on artificial intelligence summaries of developments. Teachers – who rarely post on the app – joined the thread, urging caution and providing reassurance.
“If you are talking about the active situation, please add a source!!!” one student wrote.
But “reliable information,” the students pointed out, often arrived late.
About 30 minutes after the shooting, messages falsely claimed the shooter had been caught. Reports of more shootings – later proven to be false – continued through the night and into the next day, fueling fear and frustration. A student asked: What are the police doing “NOW”?
The responses came quickly.
“They are doing their best,” one person replied. “Be grateful,” added another. “They are putting their lives on the line right now to keep us safe.”
A changed campus
Students woke up Sunday on a campus they no longer recognized. It had snowed overnight – the first snowfall of the academic year.
Post after post, students called the spectacle disturbing. What was usually a celebration felt more like a confirmation that something had irrevocably changed.
“It really hurts to see the snowflakes falling this morning, it’s beautiful and tragic,” one student wrote.
Even after the lockdown was lifted, many said they did not know what to do: where to go, whether dining halls were open, whether it was safe to travel.
“What am I doing?” » posted a student. “I’m losing my mind.”
The students walked in the fresh snow, dazed, towards the blood donation centers. Others noticed flowers being left at campus gates and outside Barus and Holley.
Many cried not only the two students killedbut the innocence they felt had been taken away from their campus.
“I will never see the first snow of the season and think about these two,” one student wrote.
Once the lockdown ended, students returned to their dorms as Sidechat continued to fill with grief and reflection. Many said Brown no longer felt the same way.
“Snow will always be bloody to me,” one person posted.
