The mother of a DeKalb County teenager who threatened the lives of the Fulton County Sheriff and his wife spoke out in defense of her son.
Quartavius Mender, 18, was arrested after he allegedly made several death threats toward Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat and his wife, Jacki Labat.
According to 11Alive News, the teenager demanded the release of rapper Young Thug, who is being held in the Cobb County Detention Center on felony RICO racketeering charges.
“#freethug or Imma sh00t u and your wife,” Mender wrote, according to arrest warrants reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He allegedly wrote on the sheriff’s Instagram page, saying, “Imma assassinate you.”
Young Thug (pictured) and rapper Gunna are among 28 people charged in a sweeping 88-page indictment last month.
Mender is charged with 23 counts of making terroristic threats toward the sheriff and his wife in several social media posts in May.
“We’ve known about these threats for a week or so,” Sheriff Labat told Shelley Wynter, co-host of WSB Radio’s “Word On the Street,” on Friday.
“These were public social media threats. I call it cyberbullying. It was on our social media – both mine, my wife’s, as well as the public Fulton County Sheriff’s Office social media. Mostly on Instagram.”
Labat added: “I signed up for this. But, you cross the line when you start talking about my family, my wife… How smart can you be to threaten the sheriff? You know how I am about my wife. We’re not taking anything for granted.”
Mender’s mother, Malaika Kulenga, and his sister, Deniecia Kelly, told 11Alive that Mender has a history of bipolar disorder, for which he is being treated. They said he is not connected to any gang.
11Alive also spoke with Mender on the phone from the jail. He said that even though his cousin, who shares the same last name, is among the alleged gang members indicted along with Young Thug, he has never been close to that cousin.
Mender insists he didn’t make any death threats on Instagram.
11Alive asked Mender why he thinks investigators traced the death threats to him.
“I really don’t know. It wasn’t me,” Mender said. “I’m not a part of no gang, I’m not a part of YSL, I’m not part of nothing.”
Mender’s mother and sister think investigators are charging anyone they think can testify against Young Thug or Gunna, the alleged ring leaders of Young Slime Life street gang.
“Young Thug don’t know him,” Deniecia Kelly said of her brother. “He don’t know Young Thug. He don’t know nobody. They can’t trace a phone call or a message or nothing with anybody affiliated with YSL.”
“My son is really a person that really needs help,” Mender’s mother, Malaika Kulenga, said. “Right now, what they’re doing is trying to put him in this situation, but he has nothing to do with it. He can’t tell them anything because there’s nothing to tell. There’s nothing. So he’s not a part of any gang, he’s not a gang member.”
Mender is being held without bail in the Fulton County Jail.
