USA TODAY International Edition
Facebook threats stymie possible shooting
New Jersey mom takes action after racist post
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When a threatening Facebook message popped up last week, Koeberle Bull’s “mama bear” instincts kicked in.
What could a man from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, want with a 40-year-old mother of three from rural New Jersey? The message, sent Oct. 17, from more than 700 miles away, was shocking.
Dylan Jarrell, a 21year-old she had never met and wasn’t Facebook friends with, started insulting her children, who are biracial, and calling them offensive racial slurs. Worst of all, he wished they were dead.
She did some Facebook sleuthing and called police in Lawrenceburg. That tip led authorities to Jarrell a day later, when they found he had a gun, 200 rounds of ammunition, a bullet-proof vest and a detailed plan to attack a school. He lives yards away from Anderson County High School.
“It wasn’t like I did anything special,” said Bull in an interview. “I was just protecting my babies.”
Bull is unsure why Jarrell singled her out. She had never met him, and as far as she knows, has no connection to him. All Jarrell saw was her Facebook picture, which shows her hugging her three smiling children, ages 16, 11 and 8.
This past Thursday, Jarrell was pulling out of his driveway when he was stopped by police. He was questioned and admitted to sending “racially motivated” messages to the woman, according to an arrest citation.
Police then searched his phone and found “threats of bodily harm against multiple persons at a school,” according to the citation, which did not identify the school.
Kentucky State Police spokesman
Josh Lawson said Jarrell was acting alone and “all credible threats to the schools ended when he was apprehended.”
Jarrell pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of second-degree terroristic threatening and harassing communications. He is being held in Shelby County Detention Center on a $50,000 bound.
Jarrell had been a suspect in a past shooting threat, according to the arrest citation. When he was questioned, he admitted to making those threats.
Kentucky State Police officials further said Jarrell had been questioned in May by the FBI about “social media threats to a school in Tennessee,” according to a post on the state police’s Facebook page.
“The only thing that stopped this (potential attack) is the New Jersey woman and luck,” said Jackie Milburn, who lives down the street from Jarrell.
Bull said multiple people thanked her on Facebook for her quick thinking.
“It has been overwhelming,” Bull said. “I had no idea about the school shooting. His messages didn’t even mention it.”
After filing her complaint against Jarrell, she didn’t hear that police thought Jarrell planned to attack a school. She watched Kentucky State Police’s news conference last week on her phone from Lumberton, New Jersey.
It’s hard for Bull to think of what could have been. But she hopes her decision to report him inspires others to take a stance against racism.
“I thought I was calling out a man for saying racist things about my children, and I ended up doing so much more.”
It wasn’t like I did anything special. I was just protecting my babies.”
Koeberle Bull