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The case of former NFL offensive lineman Jonathan Martin became more disturbing Thursday when TMZ Sports reported that Martin had a loaded shotgun, a knife and an ax when he was taken into custody. Based on court documents filed when Martin was taken into custody on Feb. 23, TMZ Sports also reported that Martin had been threatening classmates for years.
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Last month, Martin had posted an image of a shotgun and shotgun shells on his personal Instagram account. The message included in the post read: "When you're a bully victim & a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge."
Hashtags of "#MiamiDolphins" and "#HarvardWestlake" were included on the image of the shotgun.
Harvard-Westlake High School in Southern California is the school Martin attended.
Martin's post tagged Mike Pouncey and Richie Incognito, two Dolphins teammates that Martin accused of bullying him. Martin also tagged two people who attended Harvard-Westlake when he did.
After officials brought Martin into custody following that post, he was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold because officials thought he might be a danger to others and to himself, according to the TMZ report.
Police found a loaded 12-gauge shotgun, a large knife, an ax and a cell phone in his car, and another shotgun was found at his parents' home.
The two former high school classmates that Martin tagged said Martin had been sending them disturbing Facebook messages beginning in 2016.
One message said, "Thank you for being such an ---hole to me when I was a kid and didn't fit in ... being [bleeps] to me when I was a kid has made me, quite literally, insane."
The classmate said Martin apologized in August 2016.
TMZ also reported that police said Martin had purchased one shotgun right after he sent the Facebook messages and bought another shotgun two weeks before the Instagram post.
The 28-year-old Martin was a second-round pick by the Miami Dolphins in the 2012 NFL Draft after playing his college ball at Stanford. He last played in an NFL game in 2014.
