10/22/18 Yahoo News:
On Wednesday, Koeberle Bull of Lumberton, N.J., woke up to a racist message on Facebook from a man in Kentucky. “It was really vulgar — he called my kids the N-word and hoped terrible things for them,” Bull tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
The mom of three biracial children, ages 16, 11, and 8, was especially concerned about the man’s profile picture in which he showed off a gun, so, going on a “gut feeling,” she called her local police station and filed a report. “But I felt like it wouldn’t really go anywhere, so I posted a screenshot of the message on Facebook,” she says. ...
Local and state police followed the mom’s tip, and on Thursday, officers drove to the home of a 20-year-old man named Dylan Jarrell, just as he was leaving his house with more than 200 rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest, a firearm, a 100-round high-capacity magazine, and a “detailed plan of attack.” He was headed toward two school districts in Anderson County and Shelby County, the Kentucky State Police said in a press conference Friday.
I doubt he was bringing them for "Show 'n'Tell." This remains good advice: someone shows up the gun store trying to buy a rifle while wearing an ISIS T-shirt; someone starts drunkenly whining about how teachers are propagandizing our kids (they are, because taxpayers don't mind...much) and should be stopped permanently; someone asks how to make a pipe bomb that won't be detected at CNN's mailroom: time to call the police. If someone is just being stupid, a conversation about their stupidity will be better than another tragedy.
Most of us expect that people we talk to are sane; that's obviously not a reasonable expectation. We're relieved that she followed her instincts and reported the exchange to the police.
ReplyDeleteToo often, bizarre messages pop up in our email in-basket. This is proof that it's always better to report our gut reaction to threats than to assume there is no actual danger.
Anyone who threatens you, your family ... they're a risk whether or not they are sincere. It's ALWAYS better to get them "off the street" than to merely dismiss them.