The evening of May 29 was filled with buzz — both online and among family members at home — as people contemplated school shooting rumors and discussed a voicemail they had just received from Rocklin Unified School District.

“This morning a parent called and shared her son heard a rumor about guns and a shooting on campus tomorrow. Administration immediately engaged the help of our SRO Officer Davis from the Rocklin Police Department,” Principal Debra Hawkins said in the voicemail, which went out to all families.

What once was a small rumor, started developing into a roaring viral paranoia to some of the school community.

“Apparently someone posted on Instagram and no one knows who it is. They said that they are going to come to Whitney with a gun,” Charlie Pierce said.

The Instagram account, http://instagram.com/whitneyhighilluminati, has since reached an extreme amount of publicity, including more people following the account and more people blocking the account from following them as well.

Only 12 hours into the rumor and many students vowed not go to school on May 30 by their choice or because their parents are keeping them home because the Instagram account read “Whitney High School New World Order 5-30-14.” Students did not think that the account meant anything until they realized the date was tomorrow.

“All I want is for everyone to be safe. Even if [the rumor] it’s true or not true,” Josh Vu said.

Posts previously made from the Instagram account singled out specific students, many of whom feel targeted and chose not to attend school Friday. While this was only a handful of students, others wanted to stay home as a precaution based on the rumors circulating.

Students are in mutual agreement with their parents about staying home tomorrow and many are missing finals because of it.

“I’m not going to school [tomorrow]; I know there wasn’t any specific threats or anything but better safe than sorry. My friend’s mom called the Rocklin Police Department and they said it’s a good idea to stay home, so if they’re saying that, then it freaks me out to the point where I don’t care if I miss finals. I’ll just make them up on Monday, I’d rather do that than be focused on the fact that I might get shot sometime tomorrow,” Celina Alba said.

Other students’ parents are adamant about them going to school, worried about their child’s grade if he or she misses their class’ finals.

“I am going to school because I have two finals [tomorrow], psychology and trigonometry. My parents are still making me go because of the finals,” Taylor Hughey said.

May 30 is not only the last regular day of class before finals week but also the last official school day for seniors. Their grades are due to be turned in by the end of the day, determining their eligibility for next week’s senior activities.

Some students believe that the possible shooting plan is nothing more than a rumor, or a mass skip day.

“Everyone needs to just calm down and stop freaking out. This is probably just some little freshman or sophomore who’s got some issues and thinks a fake threat will change it. Or it’s all fake, so just calm down and finish off this week,” Anthony Ocken said.

Trying to ease rumors and help increase the security around campus is just what Hawkins aimed to do to protect students and settle the ripple of waves that the rumors have created.

“We have involved the Rocklin Police Department and have taken this seriously. If you have any factual information that would be of help tracking down who may know anything of substance please call the school to speak to an administrator,” Hawkins said.

May 30 came around with people complaining about hardly any students showing up for school, and that there are even more safety precautions than usual.

“Only nine people are in my class [this morning], yet we are still doing normal classwork and a lot of teachers are keeping their doors locked today,” Sierra Young said.

Three arrests were made within the hour before school started, but not only Whitney had many police at school, so did Rocklin High School. Two out of the three arrests were minors at Rocklin High School who have yet to be identified to the community, and one of the three arrests was an 18 year-old at Whitney High School under the name of Justin Hermann.

“We are sorry for the anxiety and concern this has caused everyone. Please be assured WHS, RUSD, and the Rocklin Police Department have taken everything seriously and are continuing to do everything possible to protect our students and staff.” Hawkins said.

As more official information becomes available, we will release another story. In that knowledge, we hope that readers avoid further speculation.

By: CAMELIA COFFMAN & DESIREE STONE