That's Cameron D'Ambrosio in the photo above, flashing cash that, all told, probably totals $100. An 18-year-old pale goof from Methuen, Massachusetts, "Killa" Cam goes to the local public high school, plays videogames, and harbors rap dreams. His YouTube channel hosts two relatively recent videos of his musical exercises, one of which has "CammyDee" practicing lines about reefer, doubters ("chomping on you haters like an alligator"), and suburban ennui (he rhymes "Don't know what I'm doing" with "Living in Methuen").
Yesterday, D'Ambrosio was absent from school, but messing around online, changing his profile photos and tweaking his status updates. At approximately 12:20 pm, one of his peers alerted MHS administration that the Methuen native had posted "disturbing verbiage" on Facebook, lyrics menacing enough for the school to call the city police.
"He posted a threat in the form of rap where he mentioned the White House, the Boston Marathon bombing, and said 'Everybody you will see what I am going to do, kill people,'" Methuen Police Chief Joe Solomon paraphrased to the Valley Patriot.
Now, D'Ambrosio is being held on a one-million dollar bail and charged with terroristic threats, a felony punishable for up to 20 years in prison.
It's unclear what D'Ambrosio wrote exactly, but it's tough to believe that whatever ill-advised lyrical whimsy he shared justified this response. Even the police are quick to clarify that his verses were vague. "I do want to make clear he did not make a specific threat against the school or any particular individuals but he did threaten to kill a bunch of people and specifically mentioned the Boston Marathon and the White House," Solomon told the Valley Patriot. "The threat was disturbing enough for us to act and I think our officers did the right thing."
Acting is one thing, bringing a hooky-playing high-schooler in for questioning to evaluate the seriousness of the threat is another, obtaining a search warrant for his home is still another. But arresting the kid, setting his bail at one million dollars, and charging him with terroristic threats? Holy shit.
What's more, when police did search D'Ambrosio's house, here's what they found: an XBox and a laptop. Since that wasn't damning enough (yet), "Detectives are also looking deeper at his Facebook page," reported the AP. The Valley Patriot also took a look:
He also had a disturbing satanic photo posted as well as a photo of himself on a “Wanted Poster” that reads “Wanted Dead or Alive” [sic] a quick perusal of his Facebook page shows D’Ambrosio’s unusual interest in gangs, violence and a criminal lifestyle.