Julian Edelman might have helped stop school shooting threatened in Instagram comment

Frank Schwab

When a message was left on Julian Edelman’s Instagram account threatening a school shooting, the New England Patriots receiver didn’t ignore it.

The New York Times’ Ken Belson wrote about how Edelman and his assistant were quick to act after someone who follows Edelman on Instagram sent a message to the receiver, alerting him to a comment on one of Edelman’s Instagram posts that said, “I’m going to shoot my school up watch the news.” The Times’ story ends up with authorities tracking down the message to a 14-year-old boy in Michigan, who was taken to a juvenile-detention center. The Times said police found two rifles that belonged to his mother.

In March, Edelman was in Texas with teammate Danny Amendola when he received a direct message on Instagram alerting him to the comment left on one of his posts, The Times said. This came about five weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

“With the emotions of what happened, and I have a kid now, I said, holy Toledo, what is going on?” Edelman told The Times.

The Times reported that Edelman notified his assistant in Boston, who found the Instagram comment and alerted the authorities. After detectives made an emergency records request for account information, they used the email and IP address to trace the post to Port Huron, Mich. When police in Michigan showed up at the boy’s house, he admitted to making the threat, which a Port Huron police captain told The Times was directed at the middle school he attends.

The Times said the boy was charged with making a false report of a threat of terrorism. That’s a felony, punishable by up to four years in jail. According to The Times, Edelman and his assistant were trying to track down the Instagram user who sent him the direct message, to send him something for his help in thwarting a possible school shooting.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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