School closed over ex-NFL player Jonathan Martin's shotgun post
Instagram post showed a shotgun on a bed surrounded by shells with the hashtags "HarvardWestlake and #MiamiDolphins on the gun
Saturday 24 February 2018 09:47, UK
A former NFL player has been held by police in the US after a threatening picture posted to his Instagram account forced a school to close.
Jonathan Martin, 28, who spent two years at the Miami Dolphins, was taken into custody in Los Angeles but was not arrested.
A post on his Instagram account showed a shotgun on a bed surrounded by shells with the hashtags #HarvardWestlake and #MiamiDolphins on the gun, with the message "When you're a bully victim & a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge".
It is not clear whether Mr Martin posted the picture himself.
The former offensive lineman attended Harvard-Westlake High School, a Los Angeles prep school, which was closed after city officials reportedly sent an alert around 7am local time warning students of a "security risk".
The incident comes a week after 17 students were killed in a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, just 33 miles from the home of the Miami Dolphins.
Mr Martin was involved in a bullying incident during his second and final season with the Dolphins in 2013.
An NFL investigation found his team-mates Richie Incognito, Mike Pouncey and John Jerry subjected him to "a pattern of harassment" in "a classic case of bullying".
Mr Incognito, Mr Pouncey and two former Harvard-Westlake classmates were also tagged in the screen grab of Mr Martin's Instagram story.
School officials said in a statement: "Last evening, we learned of an Internet post that mentions Harvard-Westlake by name. 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."
Mr Martin did not play for Miami after the bullying allegations became public, and retired from the sport through injury in 2015.
The report into the incident included distressing text messages from Mr Martin to his parents alleging bullying throughout his school years, at Stanford University and in Miami.
He told them he suffered from anxiety and "really severe depression".
