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Teen Jailed For Facebook Post Expresses Regrets

An undated photo of Justin Carter, who's facing a felony "terroristic threat" charge in Texas.
Courtesy Jack Carter
An undated photo of Justin Carter, who's facing a felony "terroristic threat" charge in Texas.

"I certainly would have thought a lot more about what I said. ... People should be very careful about what they say" on social media sites.

That was the word Friday morning on CNN's New Day from Justin Carter, the 19-year-old Texas gamer who was arrested and jailed in February after making a Facebook comment about a school shooting.

His case has attracted attention around the nation, especially after Carter's father said his son had been beaten up by other inmates at the jail in Comal County, Texas, where he was being held while awaiting trial.

Thursday, as the All Tech Considered blog reported, an anonymous donor posted the $500,000 bond to allow Justin to go home.

CNN landed what it says is the first interview with Carter. He was joined by his parents and his attorney. They will be pushing to have the case against him dismissed.

Carter got in trouble with the law, as All Tech has reported, for this:

After he finished playing the online game League of Legends, where the community trash-talking can get quite toxic, court documents show he posted the following messages on a Facebook page:

"I think Ima shoot up a kindergarten / And watch the blood of the innocent rain down/ And eat the beating heart of one of them."

Carter's father says his son was responding to an insult by being sarcastic and followed the message with "JK" for just kidding, but that's disputed by police.

Update at 11:35 a.m. ET. CNN's Interview:

Carter's conversation with CNN's Kate Bolduan on New Day is online.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.