NFL wide receiver. SuperBowl winner. Stopper of school shootings? It could be the latest addition to the list of Julian Edelman's accomplishments.
The New England Patriots star received a direct message on his Instagram account, warning him about a comment from one of his followers claiming that he was going to shoot up a school, according to the New York Times.
The message read:
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 (sic).
Edelman's assistant, Shannon Moen, delved deep into the comments section to find the needle in the haystack, discovering a message that said, "I’m going to shoot up a school watch the news.”
Moen alerted the authorities, who were able to trace the location of the commenter by collecting their email and IP address. When police in Michigan were alerted, they immediately went to the location pinpointed by the detectives from Boston.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested at the address, where they found two rifles that belonged to his mother, according to Capt. Joseph Platzer of the Port Huron Police Department.
The boy is being held in a juvenile detention centre and is charged with making a false report of a threat of terrorism, which comes with the possibility of a four year stint in jail.
Moen said that Edelman was in "shock” when he told him the news, adding they were "lucky" the police had the matter under control.
It's difficult to know whether or not a school shooting was inevitable, but Edelman is grateful for the warning message he received from Instagram user jesseyi3. The NFL player wants to send a care package but his assistant has not received a response as of yet.
