An Illinois mother believes she did the right thing by handing her son over to officers after her son was acting suicidal and spewing out threats.
Marshanice Mackey called the police around 1 a.m. on Wednesday after her son Derek Burton began making suicidal threats and left the house. The mother instantly noticed that her gun was missing. She said her son was upset and just got into an argument with his girlfriend.
“He’s not a bad kid, he’s done something and he’s made a mistake,” Mackey told KMOV.
Officers began searching for the teen and learned he’d made threats towards students at Belleville East and West High School. Burton allegedly stopped by a Circle K gas station on Tuesday, approached others in the parking lot and began waving his gun while also threatening them. The news outlet said some of the people happen to be Belleville East students. Authorities contacted the superintendent of the Belleville Township High School District #201, Jeff Dosier, in fear of a possible school shooting.
“I hope I never get a call like that again,” Dosier said.
Burton was arrested by officials at 7:50 a.m. at his girlfriend’s house in Shiloh and was taken into custody. No weapon was found on Burton and no harm was done on any of the school campuses.
“You cannot take things lightly. I want every parent across the country, across the world, to never have to experience what I just experienced this very second. This is just tragic to me,” Mackey told Fox2Now. “There is no way possible that I would’ve known that my son was in a situation that he was in and I did not report this; absolutely, positively not.”
The 18-year-old is being charged with three counts of aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of threat and one count of a threat against a school or a person according to KMOV.
Mackey relayed a message to other mothers or fathers, “I need parents to understand: watch your kids closely. Don’t take for granted that your kids are not doing XYZ, be there to support them by any means necessary.”
