One mother made a hard decision to prevent a tragedy.

Marshanice Mackey called the police on her 18-year-old son Derek Burton after the teen said he was suicidal and threatened to shoot up his high school after a fight with his girlfriend. Mackey made the call around 1 a.m. Wednesday, May 23, after her son fled their home, and she noticed her gun was missing.

Mackey’s call led to classes being canceled at two local high schools in Belleville, Illinois. Burton was arrested a few hours later outside of his girlfriend’s house. He was 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. He was unarmed when police tracked him down.

Mackey says despite the drama, her son is a good kid and she wants to clear his name. “He’s not a bad kid, he’s done something and he’s made a mistake,” Mackey told KMOV.

Mackey acknowledged the decision wasn’t an easy one, but she doesn’t regret her decision and believes school shootings could be prevented if more parents acted.

"You know, that's why we have a lot of school shootings,” she told KSDK. “Because a lot of parents don't agree that we need to set certain structures for their children, or, 'That's my son so I'm not going to call the police on them because I don't want them to get caught up in the system,' let that happen. That's not going to be the case with me."

Marshanice Mackey

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