A Texas college student is receiving a wave of support and appreciation after he reported his father to the FBI prior to the insurgence on the Capitol Building earlier this month.

Jackson Reffitt said he reported his father to authorities weeks before the riot and learned that he was headed to Washington, D.C., the day before, but wasn’t aware initially what his father was doing in the city, according to The New York Times. The next day, he figured out his father’s intentions through newscasts covering the rioters' assault upon the Capitol Building.

He felt it was important to tell someone about his father’s threats of “doing something big,” Jackson said.

“I didn’t know what he was going to do, so I just did anything possible just to be on the safe side,” he said.

A couple of days following the riot, Jackson’s father, Guy Reffit, returned home and admitted to his son that he participated in storming the Capitol. Guy then threatened his 18-year-old son and said that if he reported him to the police, he would be forced to do his “duty” for the country.

“If you turn me in, you’re a traitor. And you know what happens to traitors. Traitors get shot,” Jackson told investigators his father said.

On Jan. 16, Guy was arrested and now faces charges of obstruction of justice and entering a restricted building without proper authority, The New York Times reports.

It isn’t clear exactly what action the FBI took following Jackson’s initial report, but investigators later contacted him and told the 18-year-old that his report helped them prove what they were investigating, per The New York Times.

Guy’s wife told federal investigators after the riot that he was a member of the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group.

In a search of Guy’s home, FBI agents discovered an AR-15 rifle and a pistol. Guy told FBI officials that he brought the pistol with him to Washington, D.C.

Jackson said he wasn’t sure if his father was aware that he had reported him to the federal authorities.

“I am afraid for him to know,” he said. “Not for my life or anything, but for what he might think.”

Jackson revealed that his mother and two sisters were kept in the dark about his report until they viewed his interview on CNN with Chris Cuomo over the weekend.

“[Guy] saying anything remotely threatening, to me and my sister, and my family, and government officials, it was just too much," Jackson told Cuomo.

Once the interview gained popularity and people started looking into his story, Jackson took to Twitter and acknowledged being “the kid on CNN.”

Within hours, the tweet compiled thousands of likes and retweets, and he received advice from several supporters who suggested that he should start a GoFundMe.

“Every penny is another course in college or me saving it for years to come,” he wrote. “I might be kicked out of my house due to my involvement in my dad’s case, so every cent might help me survive.”

On Friday, when he first posted the GoFundMe campaign, Jackson said he was expecting to raise a few thousand dollars. The following day, the page had raised more than $20,000, and by Sunday afternoon the page amassed more than $58,000 in donations.

The Wylie, Texas, student is in his first year at Collin College, a local community college. He said the money raised from the crowdfunding campaign will be used to help fund his education, The Times reports.

Jackson said we must all share the responsibility to report a loved one’s wrongdoings and injustice as early as possible because “you’re not just protecting yourself, but you’re protecting them as well,”

He said that although it was hard, “I put my emotions behind me to do what I thought was right,”

Eventually, Jackson hopes that his relationship with his father might one day be repaired.

“We’ll get better over time. I know we will,” he said.

Jackson-Reffitt

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