An Instagram tip and some quick thinking by Julian Edelman helped stop a potential school shooter from following through on his threat.
As reported Wednesday by Ken Belson of The New York Times, actions by the New England Patriots wide receiver resulted in the arrest of a 14-year-old Michigan boy who’d posted “I’m going to shoot my school up watch the news” in the comments of one of Edelman’s Instagram photos.
Instagram user “jesseyi3” informed Edelman about the frightening post in a direct message. The wideout, who surely is flooded with hundreds of comments and messages each day, saw the tip and alerted his business manager, Shannen Moen, who called the authorities.
Belson described what transpired next:
Moen called 911, and a police officer soon arrived. The officer saw the screenshot, then called her chief, who sent two detectives to Moen’s house. The detectives collected some information about the person who posted the threat. They then returned to their office, where they made an emergency records request for account information, which allowed them to determine the sender’s email and IP address, which was traced to Port Huron, Mich.
The detectives called police in Michigan, who immediately drove to the house where the threatening message originated. When the police arrived at the address, they found a 14-year old boy, who, they said, admitted to posting the threat. They also found two rifles that belonged his mother, according to Capt. Joseph Platzer of the Port Huron Police Department.
This whole saga reportedly took place last month, while Edelman was visiting former Patriots teammate Danny Amendola in Texas. He told the Times he’s looking to reconnect with the tipster to personally thank him.
“Thankfully, this kid said something,” Edelman, who missed the 2017 season with a torn ACL, was quoted as saying. “We’re going to send him something, a care package, just for his work. He’s the real hero.”
