Patriots' Julian Edelman Prevented Potential School Shooting In Michigan
BOSTON (CBS) -- In the age of the internet, it can be very difficult to tell how serious someone's comments might be. But after a recent threat to "shoot up" a school was posted under one of his Instagram photos, Patriots receiver Julian Edelman didn't take any chances.
Edelman was alerted to a comment that read, "I'm going to shoot my school up watch the news." An Instagram user sent Edelman a message to make him aware of the comment, and Edelman then contacted his assistant. She talked with police in Boston, and the authorities eventually tracked down the user who made the threat.
That user was a 14-year-old boy in Port Huron, Michigan. The police there visited the boys home, where they allegedly found two rifles that belonged his mother. He's currently being held at a juvenile detention center.
"We located a 14-year-old male who was brought down to our department interviewed and made admission to making the threats," said Port Huron Police Capt. Joseph Platzer.
Port Huron Police tell WBZ the teen is charged with making a false report of a threat of terrorism.
The Instagram post at the root of it all was a simple picture of Edelman and former teammate Danny Amendola spending time together in Texas.
"With the emotions of what happened, and I have a kid now, I said, holy Toledo, what is going on?" Edelman told the New York Times. "Thankfully, this kid said something. We're going to send him something, a care package, just for his work. He's the real hero."
The Port Huron Police Department agrees and is giving Edelman credit too for passing the info along.
"We thank him, again we thank him for seeing the information and forwarding it on to the Boston Police department who contacted us and again want to remind everyone if you see something, if you hear something, please say something," Capt. Platzer said.
If convicted, the teen could face up to four years in prison.