More details have been released on former NFL player Jonathan Martin’s arrest.
The former Miami Dolphin lineman was taken into custody on Feb. 23 following a cryptic social media post of a shotgun and several shells on a bed reading, “When you’re a bully victim & a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge,” while tagging former teammates and his California high school, Harvard Westlake.
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According to TMZ, police are now revealing that Martin had a loaded shotgun, an ax and a large knife at the time police detained him. Officials told Martin they found him after receiving a distress call about a “suicidal male with a gun,” at a hospital in Glendale, California.
A second shotgun was reportedly found at his parents’ home.
Martin’s girlfriend told the police he had been making suicidal statements in the month leading up to the post and had been “writing on the walls” of his house.
Officials also reached out to the two former Harvard Westlake students tagged in the shotgun photo, who claim they were contacted by Martin via Facebook with disturbing messages as far back as 2017.
“Thank you for being such an asshole to me when I was a kid and didn’t fit in … being dicks to me when I was a kid has made me, quite literally, insane. And I blame you above all. You’ll get yours, eventually — I have already paid my price for being a bad person. I wish you nothing but the worst. Best, Jonathan Martin,” he wrote.
Of the follow-up messages he sent out, one read, “You’re a bad person. You irreparably damaged people’s lives. And you will be exposed publicly. If there is anything else I accomplish in life, it will be making sure you are outed and shamed for who you are.”
According to The Blast, Harvard Westlake High School filed a Workplace Violence Prevention order was filed against Martin in the days following his arrest. The school’s president, Rick Commons, was listed as a potential target of violence from Martin.
Martin retired from the NFL in 2015 after suffering an injury while with the Carolina Panthers that would require him to miss a full season. He took to Facebook in the months following his retirement announcement and detailed his struggles being bullied in high school and attempting suicide while in the NFL.
“You learn to tone down your size & blackness by becoming shy, introverted, friendly, so you won’t scare the little rich white kids or their parents,” he wrote in 2015, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Neither black nor white people accept you because they don’t understand you. It takes away from your self-confidence, your self-worth, your sanity.”
