The Los Angeles Police Department said they do consider Jonathan Martin’s gun photo a “serious threat” after the photo led to his former school being closed.
Sources linked to the investigation into the former NFL player’s photo told TMZ that the LAPD considered it a “serious threat,” especially in light of the Feb. 14 Parkland, Florida high school shooting where 17 people were killed.
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Sources told TMZ that Martin bought two firearms recently, including one that matches the description of the rifle in Martin’s photo.
Police are also in contact with the four people Martin tagged in the photo. Two of them are his former teammates, Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey.
On Thursday, Martin posted the photo, which showed a shotgun with shells scattered around it. Martin wrote [Harard Westlake] and [Miami Dolphins] on the gun. “When you’re a bully victim & a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge,” he wrote in a caption.
After people saw the post, Harvard-Westlake School campuses in Studio City and Beverly Crest were shut down for the day and Martin was detained by police.
On Friday morning, school administrators told Harvard-Westlake students that they were told of a “disturbing social media post that mentioned Harvard-Westlake by name.”
“The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is always our primary concern. So, out of an abundance of caution, we made the decision to close school today,” the email read, reports the Los Angeles Times. “The school’s private security team is working with the Los Angeles Police Department, which is present on both campuses. With these precautions in place, we believe there is no imminent threat to our campuses or our school community.”
The 28-year-old Martin was an offensive lineman in the NFL from 2012 to 2014. While with the Miami Dolphins, he accused Incognito and other teammates of bullying. An NFL investigation by Ted Wells found that Incognito, Pouncey and John Jerry were responsible for the harassment.
Martin spent the 2014 season with the San Francisco 49ers and joined the Carolina Panthers for the 2015 season. However, he retired before playing in 2015 after suffering a back injury. In August 2015, he said he attempted suicide on multiple occasions.
“Your job leads you to attempt to kill yourself on multiple occasions,” Martin wrote on Facebook, reports ESPN. “Your self-perceived social inadequacy dominates your every waking moment & thought. You’re petrified of going to work. You either sleep 12, 14, 16, hours a day when you can, or not at all. You drink too much, smoke weed constantly, have trouble focusing on doing your job, playing the sport that you grew up obsessed with.”
When asked if he ever wanted to talk to Incognito again, Martin told USA Today in 2016 he had “no desire” to.
“I’ll get nothing from it,” Martin said. “That’s in the past. I don’t know what his thoughts are and I don’t really care, honestly.”
Photo credit: YouTube/ CNN
