Jonathan Martin, the former NFL offensive lineman who was at the center of a bullying scandal in 2013, was detained by the police after posting a seemingly threatening message on social media.
A photograph he posted on Instagram showed a rifle and included a message that said bullying victims had only two choices, suicide and revenge. It included the name of the private high school he attended in Los Angeles, prompting officials there to shut the school on Friday.
“When you’re a bully victim &a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge,” the post read.
The incident comes less than two weeks after a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 teachers and students.
Officials at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles sent an alert to students around 7 a.m. Friday. Martin, who posted the image on his Instagram account on Thursday, did not explicitly threaten the school. But the photo of the assault rifle and bullets included the hashtag #HarvardWestlake.
“Out of abundance of caution, and because the safety of our students, faculty, and staff is our top priority, we made the decision to close school today,” the school said in a statement. “We are working closely with law enforcement and will share more information when we are able.”
Martin’s photo also included the hashtag #MiamiDolphins, the team that drafted him out of Stanford in 2012.
In 2013, Martin left the team after seven games because he said that another offensive lineman, Richie Incognito, had repeatedly bullied him and used racist language. Martin left the team abruptly and later said that he was under psychological duress and had considered suicide.
Incognito was suspended for bullying Martin, other teammates and a team employee. Martin played the next season for the San Francisco 49ers, but has not appeared in an NFL game since then. Incognito sat out the 2014 season, but played the next three years for the Buffalo Bills.
A 144-page report commissioned by the NFL to explore allegations of bullying on the Dolphins found that Incognito and two fellow offensive linemen, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey, “engaged in a pattern of harassment” toward Martin; another young offensive lineman; and an assistant trainer, including improper touching and sexual taunting.
In his post on Instagram on Thursday, Martin included the social media handles for Incognito and Pouncey, among others.
Incognito insisted that he never bullied Martin and was in fact his friend and mentor. Many of the more than 1,000 text messages between Incognito and Martin that were released contained lewd descriptions and profane language that could be viewed as part of a friendship.
But privately, Martin was furious. According to the report, the mistreatment began early in the 2012 season, Martin’s rookie year, and the frequency of insults grew after Martin refused to fight back. Incognito, who is white, sometimes made jokes about slavery in the presence of Martin, who is black, the report said.
