A mom of two from New Jersey is crediting her maternal instinct with thwarting a potential mass school shooting — after she reported the would-be attacker to police for sending her racist messages on Facebook, according to reports.
The tip from Lumberton’s Koeberle Bull led Kentucky authorities to arrest Dylan Jarrell, who was found last Thursday with a firearm, more than 200 rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest, a 100-round high-capacity magazine and a “detailed plan” to attack a school, Kentucky state police said.
“I must say I didn’t see this coming but thank God I went with my gut,” Bull said in a Facebook post.
The drama unfolded when the 40-year-old mom of three biracial children, ages 16, 11 and 8, received a Facebook message filled with racial slurs from Jarrell on Oct. 17.
She said she’s never met the 21-year-old resident of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.
“I hope your black children gets [sic] hung for you being so stupid,” Jarrell wrote in the message, which Bull screenshot and posted online.
“Anyone who thinks racism doesn’t exist. This is what I woke up to in my inbox this morning,” Bull, whose profile picture shows her posing with her three kids, wrote along with the screenshot.
The sickening message prompted her to dig into Jarrell’s whereabouts. She then reported him to Lawrenceburg police, who arrested him the next day as he was pulling out of his driveway — allegedly armed.
“It wasn’t like I did anything special,” Bull told the Louisville Courier Journal. “I was just protecting my babies.”
Jarrell pleaded not guilty last Monday to charges of second-degree terroristic threatening and harassing communications. He’s being held in the Shelby County Detention Center on $50,000 bond.
His phone contained information pertaining to “threats of bodily harm against multiple persons at a school,” which wasn’t identified in his arrest citation.
Jarrell lives steps away from Anderson County High School. Classes in the district were canceled last Friday.
The head of the Kentucky State Police said at a press conference last week that Bull’s quick actions helped save lives.
“This young man had it in his mind to go to schools and create havoc,” said Commissioner Rick Sanders. “We often hear from the community: ‘Well, why should I call the police? You guys aren’t going to do anything about it.’ This is an example of how when you call the police … we do something about it.”
Bull said she wasn’t even aware of Jarrell’s alleged school plot until she watched the press conference.
“I hope that people feel encouraged to speak up,” she said. “I thought I was calling out a man for saying racist things about my children, and I ended up doing so much more.”
Amy Robertson, a public defender who is representing Jarrell, warned not to jump to conclusions.
“These cases are very complex and often have many sides to them,” Robertson said. “It is not uncommon for it to take a long time for all the facts to come out. I ask that you not jump to any conclusions and give me time to do my job.”
With Post wires
