Woman In Washington Unknowingly Live-Tweeted Her Husband’s Death

Caran Johnson from Washington State avidly tweets local news and has amassed over 1,000 followers for her updates.

Last night, she took to Twitter to live-tweet a car crash in her hometown of Vancouver before learning that her husband was a victim.

We first saw this heartbreaking story on TIME.

It was at 2:11 p.m. PST when Caran Johnson retweeted the Columbian Metrodesk’s coverage about the accident.

“This accident sounds horrible,” she wrote in a tweet under the handle @ScanCouver. Her account has since been locked for privacy, but TIME and CNN were both able to obtain the tweets prior.

As Trooper Will Finn (@wspd5pio) tweeted on-the-scene, Johnson followed his tweets and relayed what she was learning to her followers.

That’s when Johnson became nervous.

According to CNN, at 2:17 p.m. Johnson posted, “I’m trying not to panic, but my husband left work early and he drives 205 to get home. he’s not answering his phone.”

She asked Officer Finn if there was an official description of the cars.

At this point, Officer Finn stopped live-tweeting the accident.

“I didn’t want someone to find out over Twitter that their husband passed away. I didn’t want her to find out that way. That is a hard thing to go through,” he told CNN.

At 3:50 p.m, Johnson’s fears were confirmed. She sent this final tweet:

 

Johnson’s husband, Craig, was the only fatality in the accident.

“I feel terrible. I still feel terrible,” Finn told CNN. “Our hearts go out to the family. This person was a member of our community and we just lost him.”