A 14-year-old boy was arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center last month after he threatened to shoot up his school in a comment he left on Julian Edelman’s Instagram page.
In an interview with Ken Belson of the New York Times, Edelman revealed that one of his followers alerted him to a disturbing threat that had been made on his social media account.
“Dude, there is a kid in your comment section says he s going to shoot up a school, i think you should alert the authority,” the Instagram user wrote to Edelman in a direct message.
Edelman, who was visiting former Patriots teammate Danny Amendola in Texas at the time, said he immediately thought of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people and notified his assistant, Shannen Moen, back in Boston. Moen found the alarming message, which said, “I’m going to shoot my school up watch the news.” She immediately notified the police and provided a screenshot.
“With the emotions of what happened, and I have a kid now, I said, holy Toledo, what is going on?” Edelman told the Times.
Through an emergency records request, police were able to determine that the threat was posted by someone in Port Huron, Mich. Police in Michigan drove to the address they received and found a 14-year-old boy who lived with his mother. The woman owns two rifles, according to police. The boy, whose threat was aimed at the middle school he attends, was taken to a youth detention center and charged with making a false report of a threat of terrorism. If convicted, he could face up to four years in jail.
Edelman thanked the Instagram user who alerted him to the threat and said he is trying to locate the person to reward him or her.
“Thankfully, this kid said something,” Edelman said. “We’re going to send him something, a care package, just for his work. He’s the real hero.”
Almost every time there is a mass shooting, we hear how there were signs leading up to the event that should have been taken more seriously. While it’s unclear if the 14-year-old in this case actually planned to follow through, the situation was handled perfectly by all involved.
