Patriots’ Julian Edelman Helped Stop Possible School Shooting By Checking Instagram Post

New England Patriots star Julian Edelman may have helped prevent a school shooting simply by reporting a threatening social media post.

Julian Edelman School Shooting Instagram Threat

According to The New York Times and ESPN, the veteran wide receiver was visiting his friend and former teammate Danny Amendola in Texas late last month when he got a direct message on Instagram. 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.”

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Edelman then reportedly informed his assistant in Boston of this. The assistant, Shannen Moen, discovered the original threat on Instagram after going through hundreds of comments: “I’m going to shoot my school up watch the news.”

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The wideout stated he immediately recalled the horrific shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed on Feb. 14 by a 19-year-old former student of the school. This has been one of several school shootings that have occurred in recent months that have spurred a national debate for more gun control.

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

After Moen called 911, the person who posted the threat was identified — thanks to a tracing of the commenter’s IP address — as a 14-year-old boy in Port Huron, Michigan. The boy reportedly confessed to making the threat after police arrive at his home, where they found two rifles owned by his mother.

The boy was charged with making a false report of a terrorism threat and was sent to a juvenile correction facility, where he is still being held.

Edelman called his Instagram follower who notified him about the threat “the real hero,” and said he plans to send the fan a gift as a thank you.

Edelman’s agent echoed several people’s sentiments that no comment like this one, online or not, should ever be treated lightly.

“It’s not good enough anymore to disregard comments like those as offhanded,” said Edelman’s agent Don Yee. “All of us, including players, are learning together to take these kinds of things very seriously.”

One CNN journalist shared a screenshot of the message the person sent Edelman to alert him of the threat.

“We are thankful everyone takes these types of things seriously so we can investigate these situations fully,” said Capt. Joseph Platzer, one of the policemen whose department helped deal with the boy who made the threat. “We like to remind people that if they see something, say something.”

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also tweeted her thanks to Edelman: