Ex-NFL player questioned by police after threatening Instagram post
It isn’t clear if Martin posted the image or he was hacked.
— -- Former Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin was detained by the Los Angeles Police Department for questioning in an investigation over an Instagram post that caused Harvard-Westlake School to close on Friday.
"The individual we believe responsible for the social media post in question has been detained and our investigation is ongoing," the LAPD said in a statement.
Hours later, the LAPD said the "person of interest" in the case had been questioned and was no longer in custody.
Posted from @jmart, the caption on a picture of an assault rifle and bullets with the hashtag #HarvardWestlake reads, “When you’re a bully victim 7 a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge.”
It isn’t clear if Martin posted the image or he was hacked, law enforcement sources said.
The post was found Thursday evening, and on Friday morning, the school sent out an emergency notification asking students to stay home.
“Students already on campus will be supervised and protected in designated areas until parents can make arrangements to pick them up or for them to return home safely,” the notification said.
In a statement, the school said: "Late last evening, Harvard-Westlake was made aware of a disturbing and possibly threatening social media post attributed to a former student, which specifically mentioned our school. The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is always our top priority, so we made the decision to close both campuses of our school today. It is our understanding that the former student is now in the custody of authorities. We are working closely with law enforcement, and all further inquiries about this matter should be directed to the Los Angeles Police Department."
Martin, a former student of the elite school, previously accused his former Dolphins teammates of bullying and harassment, resulting in an NFL investigation, according to ESPN. A 2014 report on the allegations detailed that Martin suffered from low self-esteem and depression as a teenager because he was bullied.
Martin hasn’t played in the NFL since 2015. Shortly after his retirement, he wrote a lengthy Facebook post sharing that he had suffered from depression and had contemplated committing suicide.