‘So hard not to panic’: University of Idaho community reacts online to student homicides

The eyes of the world fell on Idaho on Sunday evening after the Moscow Police Department found four people dead in a house near the University of Idaho.

All four individuals were confirmed as university students by the Moscow Police Department and are being investigated as homicides. The names were released Monday.

U of I put out an alert Sunday afternoon that there was no active threat and, later that evening, canceled all in-person and virtual classes on Monday.

Although police are yet to release the cause of death, public figures and Idahoans alike have taken to social media to react to the incident.

David Roth, the Democratic Party’s 2022 nominee for a U.S. Senate seat from Idaho, called for society to “take actual steps to address the problem.” Roth also referenced the Sunday shooting at the University of Virginia, where three student-athletes with the university’s football team were shot and killed.

Jim Risch, one of Idaho’s two U.S. senators — the other being Mike Crapo, who defeated Roth in the 2022 general election — sent prayers to the families of the four victims and the U of I community on Monday morning.

Moscow mayor Art Bettge expressed his condolences to the community in an news release Monday afternoon.

“Our hearts and thoughts are with not only the victims and their families, but also their broader circle of friends, and the entire University of Idaho community,” Bettge said.

“This tragedy serves as a sobering reminder that senseless acts of violence can occur anywhere, at any time, and we are not immune from such events here in our own community,” he continued. “Today, we grieve for those who were lost and those they leave behind. Let us come together in support of each other, and be there for each other, as we mourn as a community.”

U of I’s head football coach, Jason Eck, also sent out thoughts and prayers to the members of his university and the University of Virginia.

One Twitter user, Chris K, said it reminded him of the murder of Eric McMillan, a U of I football player who was killed on his doorstep in Moscow in 2004 by a pair of brothers from Seattle.

Another Twitter user, Shannon Kelly, tweeted that the student and alum community are taking the news hard.

Kelly’s bio says she’s a U of I grad and has tweeted that she worked at the university for two years post-graduation. She tweeted that she’s had to remind people that the incident may be getting less coverage nationally than the University of Virginia shooting in part because “most don’t even know how to pronounce Moscow, Idaho,” referencing the size of the nearly 26,000-person town.

Kelley Kolpitcke, whose son is a U of I student, tweeted at Idaho Statesman reporter Sally Krutzig that as a parent, it’s “so hard not to panic” as U of I and Moscow Police Department officials were yet to release much information on the incident as of Sunday night.

Update: Four University of Idaho students found dead near campus after reported homicides