The family of a Parkland, Florida school shooting survivor is seeking help from the FBI after they received several death threats online.
David Hogg has been one of the most vocal student advocates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for gun reform in the wake of the Feb. 14 attack. And while the family understands that many oppose his position, they claim to have received some chilling threats for Hogg’s outspoken views.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The 17-year-old’s mother, Rebecca Boldrick, told TMZ that the family decided to contact the FBI after a particularly vile threat was written on one of her Facebook photos.
“You can change your settings, but you can never change your faces,” the user wrote. “Your whole family is exposed because of your piece of s— kid.”
The person also called out Hogg’s upcoming 18th birthday and wrote that it “will be an interesting event.”
“God Bless the NRA and the right to bear arms, wrong crowd to f— with idiotsticks,” the commenter continued. The family said they are taking the extreme comment as a death threat.
Another user wrote Boldrick to encourage her to “admit failure” and “drive the whole family over a cliff.” The commenter added, “You should have had an abortion. Your son is a psychopathic douche bag.”
TMZ confirms that the FBI has been contacted in relation to Hogg’s case; the teenager’s father is also a retired FBI agent.
Boldrick said the family has also contacted Facebook and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, citing that the commenter’s Facebook profile claims he lives in Canada.
The mother said that while the family understands that many people disagree with their anti-guns message, they do not have the right to threaten or intimidate them, particularly through social media. She also said that any threats they receive will have consequences.
Since the mass shooting at Hogg’s high school, he has appeared on several national news programs urging politicians to take action toward tightening gun restrictions.
In that time, conspiracy theorists spread false or misleading evidence that attempted to discredit Hogg and other students as “crisis actors” who travel to push an anti-guns agenda. Those claims were debunked.
“Unlike the people who are tweeting that stuff about me and my dad, I haven’t lost hope in America and my dad hasn’t either,” Hogg said with his father by his side during an appearance on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
Responding to claims he is in favor of repealing the Second Amendment, Hogg said he doesn’t “want to take a constitutional right away from American citizens.” He believes Americans can own a gun if they are mentally stable, don’t have previous major convictions and are “not going to go out and commit these atrocities.”
“We have a right to live just as we have a right to bear arms,” he said.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old former student and confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz remains in Broward County Jail awaiting a plea hearing. He was formally charged on March 7 with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
