Local News

BALTIMORE (AP) ― The social networking site Facebook has become a sounding board for friends and classmates of a teen accused of killing his parents and his two younger brothers, with some condemning Nicholas W. Browning for his alleged actions and others leaping to his defense.

Browning, a sophomore at Dulaney High School in Cockeysville, is charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his father, John Browning; his mother, Tamara Browning; and his brothers, 14-year-old Gregory and 11-year-old Benjamin. He confessed Sunday to the slayings and told investigators where he'd stashed the weapon, a handgun that belonged to his father, police said.

Browning turns 16 on Saturday, the same day that funeral services were to be held for his family. Browning's attorney, Joshua R. Treem, has declined to talk about the case.

By Friday afternoon, more than 2,900 people had joined a group on Facebook called "Pray for the Brownings," where they shared memories of the family and expressed outrage about the slayings.

Kathryn Montgomery, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and the author of "Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce and Childhood in the Age of the Internet," said sites such as Facebook can serve an important function when young people are confronted with tragedy.

Facebook users flocked to the site to reassure each other and remember the victims after the Virginia Tech shooting last year, and "Rest in Peace" sites for young people are common. Nearly 600 people joined a group commemorating Shalita Middleton, a Delaware State University student fatally wounded in a campus shooting.

"These social networks, they're very important support systems," Montgomery said. "It so easily facilitates an outpouring of emotion and expression."

While many of the messages posted to the Browning group voiced sympathy for the family, others focused on the alleged killer and speculated about his state of mind and his possible motives.

Bill Toohey, a Baltimore County police spokesman, said detectives have been monitoring the page closely and will follow up on leads generated by the postings.

"MySpace, Facebook, these are all tools or avenues that are explored in investigations," Toohey said.

Dulaney High School classmate John Lockwood, who posted to the site several times, told The AP in an e-mail sent through Facebook that Browning was in his lab group in a science class and would complain about his father.

"I specifically remember him saying he would kill his family one day -- in a joking manner," Lockwood wrote. "Obviously this wasn't suspicious at the time because lots of people have problems with their family and exaggerate like that."

Lockwood also wrote that Browning was a bully who "would always pick on the kids who couldn't fight back."

Lockwood's postings were condemned by several classmates who identified themselves as friends of Browning. Others said Browning deserved forgiveness and that it was unseemly to speculate about what led to the slayings.

"I know the hardest thing anyone could ever do is forgive someone but thats basically the only thing you can do," wrote classmate Niki Epps. "The point of this group was to express our feelings for the loss of his family and his life so how about we just stick to that."

The comments often devolve into profane name-calling. Montgomery noted that sort of talk is nothing new for teenagers, but now it's moved into a public arena.

Facebook claims 64 million active users, and a survey last year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 70 percent of girls and 57 percent of boys ages 15 to 17 had profiles on social networking sites.

"It's like the kind of conversation you might have in a school hallway, but instead it's on a stage for all the world to see," Montgomery said. "It's completely unfiltered, it's just stream-of-consciousness conversation, and I think on a psychological level that may be very healthy, although there can be a dark side to it as well."

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