Last Wednesday, at 12:40 p.m., a young male called the 911 call center stating there were three armed men in Liberty HS. The call was made on a pre-paid phone, which is untraceable. The students were told to remain in their Block Three classrooms – the rooms they were in at the time. For four hours, the students waited in "lockdown" mode. They were asked to sit quietly in darkened classrooms. Although the use of phones is forbidden at Liberty during the school day, the tweets and Facebook posts immediately began to flow between students and their families.

Pamela Gauthier of Bethlehem worried all afternoon about her grandson, a freshman. She reflected on the social media posts she received during the tense lockdown time, "I can only say that sharing the truth on electronic media is helpful; problem is, there was lots of untruths floating the airways. That just makes the situation all the more scary. My blood pressure must have soared 30 points!"

Joanne Zella, another grandmother of a Liberty student, said, "Social media is a very good thing in cases like that. We would have waited about another two hours until we knew she was safe." Zella's granddaughter texted through the afternoon to her father, who kept the rest of the family informed of the situation at Liberty.

Ross Saveri, a sophomore at Liberty, said, " As you can see, lots of fake info was given out, scaring the heck out of many of us. Especially when they said people were being shot. People like to make up rumors on Twitter to get retweeted and get semi-famous. Social media websites, during a crisis, can be really sketchy. You don't know when to trust it, but you still do. Especially when you're fearing for your life."

Jared Brooks, a junior, observed, "Sure! Social media is a good thing for times like this because I was able to tell my family and friends outside the school that I was safe. I was also able to tell my parents that I love them. Also, despite all the rumors, Dr. Roy's (Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent) statement was able to reach a lot of people, along with the truth in what happened."

A review of several tweets and Facebook posts between students and families showed that the students were dealing well with the unusual situation. Their comments were calm, humorous and sensible. The students appeared to use social media in the best possible way to inform themselves, their families and to separate the facts from the rumors.