Jonathan Martin's Instagram post prompted a school closure.

The discussion around gun violence in the wake of the shootings that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last week has taken an odd turn thanks to a former NFL player.

Jonathan Martin, the former offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins (who also played for San Francisco 49ers and was briefly a member of the Carolina Panthers) who was at the center of the investigation into the bullying, harassment and other inappropriate workplace behavior he faced from Richie Incognito and other teammates, posted a photo of a gun on Instagram with a disturbing caption that mentioned revenge.

This led to his high school being shut down and to him being taken into police custody.

The post in question tagged Incognito as well as former Dolphins’ teammate Mike Pouncey (also implicated in that bullying scandal), and former high school classmates James Dunleavy (son of Mike Dunleavy, brother of Mike Jr., he went on to play for USC) and T.J. Taylor, plus #MiamiDolphins and #HarvardWestlake (the high school Martin attended in Southern California with Dunleavy and Taylor) written on the gun. This led to Harvard-Westlake shutting down for the day Friday over the threat.

Here’s the post from Martin’s Instagram (which is verified, although it’s now set to private):

Here’s the Harvard-Westlake statement on the issue from the KTLA story on the school closing, which doesn’t specifically identify Martin, but seems to match the details here:

Last evening, we learned of an Internet post that mentions Harvard-Westlake by name. Out of an 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. We are working closely with law enforcement and will share more information when we are able.

This is definitely troubling and problematic. We’ll see what further developments happen here.

[KTLA]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.