A teenager has been arrested for reciting violent Eminem lyrics on Instagram, with local police determining the 15 year-old poses a serious potential threat to others. In a culture climate where school shootings occur at an average of once a week, heightened security measures are being implemented to identify potential attacks before they occur.
The unnamed boy, was arrested on Tuesday (September 1) at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, California, according to local newspaper The Fresno Bee. School was cancelled and police later searched the teen’s family home, finding guns, ammunition and a bulletproof vest in his father’s bedroom. The family denies knowledge of the items.
The Instagram post that drew attention quoted Eminem’s 2000 song ‘I’m Back’. The lyrics read, “I take seven kids from Columbine, stand ’em all in a line, add an AK-47, a revolver, a nine, a MAC-11 and it oughtta solve the problem of mine. And that’s a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time. I’m just like Shady and just as crazy as the world was over this whole Y2K thing“.
Police chief Jerry Dyer stated that officers had “every reason to believe that there was potential for a threat to be carried out”, describing the student as a “loner” and “socially awkward”. A search of the boy’s home uncovered guns, ammunition and a bulletproof vest.
According to The Bee, the student has had a series of unfortunate circumstances occur in his life recently: his mother died about a year ago, he had just broken up with his girlfriend and was reportedly a bullying victim. He was doing badly in school and had quit the football team.
“These are really all of the things we look for in individuals that historically have been involved in incidents like Columbine,” Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said at a press conference Tuesday. “So we’re very fortunate that this was brought to our attention.”
In a disturbing twist, another teen was questioned on Tuesday for his comments on the post, “Bring me with man. I got some stuff [to] settle,” to which the boy replied, “Ill text you when. I got a couple idiots’ blocks I could knock off.”
The boy was arrested on charges of making terrorist threats and disrupting school activity. His father is potentially facing additional charges of improper storage of firearms. The boy’s attorney, Linden Lindahl, told The Bee that authorities were too hasty in jumping to conclusions, however, and that his account was hacked.
“They weren’t trying to get information,” he said of the arrest. “They were questioning him as if he were already guilty.”
Given the state of extreme volatility in a culture obsessed with unfettered access to guns, the pre-emptive action by authorities will undoubtedly draw heavy criticism and skew the current debate over gun control in America.
The numbers, however, outline a deepening need for preventative measures against another school shooting. The frequency of gun attacks in America has sharply risen since the December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first-graders and 6 adults were fatally shot. 95 documented incidents at U.S. schools since then have resulted in 41 deaths, according to the Chicago Tribune.
