A Michigan family may have done one of the most difficult things humanly possible. The parents of a 15-year-old found out their son had a plan to kill as many of his classmates as possible and to blow up the school. Upon learning that, they did the only thing they could really think of: they notified the police of their son’s plans.

A 15-year-old boy in Michigan who allegedly planned a school shooting could be tried as an adult. “He came to us and said that he’s been really upset and said that he’s been planning to do something bad,” the boy’s stepfather, who asked to remain unidentified, told WOOD-TV. “It was a big shock.” The teen, who is also not being identified because he is a minor, was arraigned Monday on firearms and explosives charges. The boy’s parents say their son had been bullied since starting school at Paw Paw High School, and that things escalated when a picture of the teen in his underwear began circulating. “Since that point, it’s just been relentless,” the stepfather said, adding that bullies would push the boy into lockers and punch him in the throat. Over the weekend, the boy told his parents he had stolen guns from his grandfather and planned to kill the students who had hurt him. “He wanted to blow the school up on top of him,” the stepfather said. “I was in shock. I just couldn’t believe it. … We couldn’t think at that point. How’d this even get to this point?”

The fact that he came to his parents is unusual. I can’t say that I recall any other mass shooters confiding in their parents, which means this might have been a cry for help.

It doesn’t matter. Unlike in Parkland, a responsible adult acted on a warning sign and may have saved numerous lives.

As it stands, this 15-year-old’s life is basically over. At least, it is if he’s tried as an adult. These are the kind of charges you don’t get to live down, after all. Nor should they be.

I won’t sit here and pretend that this is a good or bad thing, but I will say I feel for the kid. I’ve been there. But, as I told someone who had a fair hand in my torment a few years back when he and I were having a good-natured chat, it was either come to terms with everything or climb into a bell tower with a high powered rifle, and I didn’t like heights.

I was joking. It doesn’t sound like this kid was, though. It may have been a cry for help, but it wasn’t a joke by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s important to note that he stole guns from his grandfather, which is how many mass shooters get their firearms in the first place. This is why it’s important that we all lock up any firearms not under our direct control.

While it’s unlikely this story will end happily for this kid, I applaud the parents for doing what had to be a tough call. The risk of not acting as they did was too high.