Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove the location of the Starbucks in question. In an email to the Daily Dot, the worker indicated he fears retaliation from the franchise for the initial TikTok.
Update 2:43pm CT Nov. 9: The TikTok user has since made the video private.
Original story: An apparent Starbucks worker on TikTok alleged the store he works at prematurely lifted a lockdown during an active shooter threat after learning it was actually a bomb threat.
The TikToker, @ilooktwelve, said he couldn’t even make it back to his dorm because he had to walk through the “danger zone.”
The video, which currently has over 122,000 views, shows the creator with a Starbucks apron in the back of a Starbucks store. Text overlay reads, “Starbucks instructed us to lock down because there was an active shooter threat [nearby].” The text also notes the worker’s store is located in the Northeast, where schools have recently received bomb threats.
The text then alleges Starbucks “instructed” the store to reopen because “‘it’s just a bomb threat, not an active shooter threat so it’s okay.”
“wth starbucks … can literally hear sirens outside,” @ilooktwelve captioned the video.
According to USA Today, multiple ivy league schools, including Brown University and Columbia, received bomb threats on Sunday.
The TikToker revealed he is OK in the comments section and said that while he clocked out of work, he waited at the store because it was unsafe for him to walk back to his dorm.
“Y’all do you gods work in that Starbucks every day they could have at least given u the day off,” one viewer said.
Another shared a similar experience they had while allegedly working at Subway. “My boss at subway wanted us to keep the store open despite a literal firefighter telling us to leave,” they wrote. “Bro, I’m not dying for you.”
The Daily Dot reached out Starbucks for comment.
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