On Saturday morning, parents and students of Tam High received an email from Tam administration regarding an event that took place on Friday night in Tam’s “Back Parking Lot” (BPL). According to the email, around 9 pm on Friday the police were called in order to disperse a large gathering of Tam students. No reason for the gathering was provided, but Administration said that according to preliminary sources, it was in reaction to an exchange of “words on Twitter.” While it’s true that students gathered in the BPL, it had nothing to do with Twitter, and at no point were students in danger or engaging in illicit activity. The gathering did occur in reaction to an exchange on social media, though the platform was Instagram, not Twitter. A Tam football player posted a photo of himself and a player from Redwood, where the Redwood player had missed the tackle. The Tam student tagged the Redwood student in the photo, captioned “You missed”, and from there, a ferocious stream of comments between Tam and Redwood students erupted. The number of comments on the photo totaled approximately 2,100 before students began deleting comments in order to evade punishment in case the post was seen by either school’s administration.

At some point in the stream of comments, a student had proposed a meeting at around 9 pm in Tam’s BPL. News of the gathering spread fast, and students began gathering in the BPL on Friday evening in anticipation of a potential fight. However, these students were almost all from Tam- no sign of anyone from Redwood. At approximately 9:15, a large pickup truck blew past the BPL and was immediately pulled over by the police, who had just arrived. Thinking that the truck was driven by Redwood students, the Tam students in the BPL erupted in cheers. It was later revealed that the truck was occupied by a Tam student, to the dismay of those in the BPL. The police blocked off the entrance to the BPL, preventing any more students from entering. Police arrived at the event almost immediately after students began gathering, thanks to an anonymous tip earlier that day.  No students were under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and no physical or verbal interaction between Tam and Redwood students occurred.