You Threatened The WRONG Family, Dude.

I generally consider myself a happy-go-lucky kind of person. 

Sure, I’ll bitch about the things that need bitching, (and sometimes about the things that don’t), but overall, I think I’m generally a happy, laid-back kind of chick.

However, waking up to death threats, in the form of Facebook messages sent to my kid, kind of starts my day off on the wrong foot and takes the happy out of this chick, REAL QUICK.

When a message starts with ‘WARNING’ … that’s never a good thing.

“I wouldn’t mind knocking you out with a can of gas, and a lit match”

“And don’t even get me started on your family.  You really want them hurt … “, then proceeded to name us.

“Nightmare on Arnold Drive if you don’t smarten up”.  I believe that was intended as a threat to burn down our house, considering the sender was talking about setting my kid’s car on fire just before that.

NONE of this was/is acceptable, but what REALLY pushed me over that edge? 

What REALLY made me lose my shit?

The image this person sent, of my other son, beheaded by an ISIS Terrorist.

WHAT.  THE. FUCK?!?!?!?!

Who does that?

You just picked the WRONG family to threaten, Dude!

No more happy go lucky Mama. 

Shit just got real, and now Mama’s PISSED!

Annnnd that’s how my Thursday started.

Day 6 with the Cold from Hell, and I wake up to THAT.

Before I’d even opened my eyes I heard the footsteps and, ‘MOM!’ and the next thing I knew my younger son was sitting on my bed, showing me a Facebook message - a threat - he had received during the night.

The person who sent it, accused my boy of ‘bullying girls’.

My kids aren’t perfect, by any means, and I’ll be the first one to throw them under the bus when they DO something wrong, but if anything, that kid stands up FOR the kids at his school that he sees being bullied!

My boys have been raised by a single mom who has drilled it into their heads that it is NEVER acceptable to abuse/disrespect a woman/girl, in ANY way!

Getting cocky or mouthy with a guy?  Sure, I could see my kid doing that.

Talking back to an adult.  Mmmmm hmmmm. If he thinks he's in the right. 

Driving his car too fast?  Yup.

Doing other things he probably shouldn’t do?  

Absolutely, he’s 17.

But being mean to a girl?  I’ll want written/verbal/visual proof of THAT before I’ll believe it.

I’m not simply trying to stick my head in the sand and be all ‘not my kid’ about this … I REALLY don’t think he did anything intentionally mean to a girl, and I certainly don’t think he did anything that warranted death threats to himself or his family. Or his car!

So … we did two things.

First, I had a few sips of my morning coffee and a smoke on the deck to wake up and wrap my head around what I’d just read.

Then, before he went to school, my son and I called the police together and filed a report and sent them the screenshots from the message(s).

I also contacted Anonymous.

 Pic taken from HERE.

Why did I bring THEM into this?

Simple.  The person who sent the threat, did so pretending to be part of the Anon community, and was representing them.

What this person didn’t realize, is that I actually KNOW a member of Anonymous, someone I consider a friend, and I reached out to him.

I didn’t want him to DO anything, but I simply wanted to see if this really HAD come from someone in the Anon community.

Within minutes I had my answer.

It hadn’t.

Not that I really thought it had, but I needed to know for sure.

I have to say, the Halifax Police were absolutely fantastic!

They got on it right away, and had their tech unit digging for whatever could tell them WHO had sent the message(s) and had the page shut down.

Within a very short period of time, they had a name and address.

By the end of the day, questions had been asked, statements had been given, and the person had been arrested, with three charges against them. 

 - Threat of death (against my kid)

 - Threat of bodily harm (against my kid and family)
 - Threat of destruction of property (setting fire to the boy’s car and our house).

Oh but it didn’t end there …

Later that evening, my son called from work to tell me that a second person involved had started posting on Snapchat, offering money to ‘come smash some cars’.

It didn’t take a mathematician to put together 2 and 2. 

This 2^nd person was talking about OUR cars.

This 2^nd person was upset that their friend had been arrested for the email threats.

They wanted to retaliate.

The police paid THEM a visit that night, too.

Did I mention … You just picked the WRONG family to threaten, Dude!

At this point, I have to say that we are still missing a very important piece of information, which is … WHY this happened. 

We don’t know.

Prior to this incident, my son didn’t even know this person existed.

The one connection to the person who sent the threats, is the 2^nd person who was talking about ‘smashing cars’.

This second person is known to both my son … and the person who sent the threats. 

But it still doesn’t explain the ‘why’.

I’m hoping that comes out in court.

And that’s where we are now. Waiting for the court date.

Yes, this person was arrested, and then released on ‘conditions’.

 - They are not allowed to contact my son.

 - They are not allowed to come to our house.

 - They are not allowed to damage the boy’s car.

Needless to say, the first night after this happened, I didn’t get much sleep.

I left the kitchen window open, so I’d be able to hear anyone in the driveway/yard, and I must have heard every single car that went down the street during the night.

But, to the person who sent the threats … I lost ONE night to you, and one night only.

No more.

You will not win.

You will not have me living in fear of what you ‘might’ do.

You don’t have that power.

I won’t let you.

I have nothing but admiration and respect and gratitude for how the police handled this situation.

They reacted immediately, they took it seriously, and with the cooperation of Facebook and internet service providers, were able to identify this person within hours.

Not days.  Not weeks.  Hours.

The police said ‘everyone’ worked quickly, due to the nature of the threat.

So to all of them, I have to say a huge, THANK YOU!

Now … to this person.

The Dude who threatened my kids, and myself.

I have something to say to you, too.

It has come to my attention that you are calling my son a ‘Rat’.

This also applies to the 2^nd person involved in this incident.  You are publicly calling  shaming my son as a ‘Rat’ for informing the police of a personal threat he received.

KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF!!!!

Let me make myself very clear … we had NO IDEA who either of you were when we called the police.

All we knew was that a threat had been received from an ANONYMOUS  Facebook account.

Anonymous.  Not you.  Not your personal Facebook account. 

You used Anonymous.

You HID behind Anonymous.

How can you ‘rat out’ someone who is Anonymous?

You can’t.

You’re pissed off because you did something stupid, and illegal and got caught, through NO FAULT of ours.

You brought this on yourself, Dude.

Don’t threaten people, and they won’t call the police.

Period.

So, just to make sure we’re crystal clear on this whole ‘rat’ thing … again, I say … KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF!!!!

You threatened my kids.

You threatened me.

You threatened our property.

And where did it get you?

Arrested.

 

You threatened the WRONG family, Dude.

This Mama don’t play.

I’ll see you in court. And you’ll see me, I’m sure. 

I’ll be the one sitting in the front row.

Just me, and Ms. Justice.

K.