Thanks to his quick actions, Julian Edelman might have helped prevent a threat made online from turning into a reality.
In an interview with The New York Times, the New England Patriots wide receiver spoke about how he and his personal assistant recently reached out to authorities after someone threatened to shoot up a school in a comment posted to Edelman's Instagram account. Edelman's actions eventually led to a teenager being detained in connection to the written threat.
Edelman told the newspaper that thoughts of the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, spurred him to do something about the comment.
"With the emotions of what happened, and I have a kid now, I said, 'Holy Toledo, what is going on?'" Edelman said.
After an Instagram user notified Edelman of the comment, he informed his personal assistant, Shannen Moen, who sifted through the many comments on the social media platform before finding the message: "I'm going to shoot my school up watch the news."
Moen immediately notified police and authorities eventually traced the message's origin to a Michigan IP address. Police in Port Huron, Michigan, later detained a 14-year-old boy, who admitted to writing the threat. He was charged with making a false report of a threat of terrorism, a felony, according to The Times.
"Thankfully, this kid said something," Edelman said about the user who notified him about the comment. "We're going to send him something, a care package, just for his work. He's the real hero."
