Mom warned Mesquite school hours before daughter was sexually assaulted: affidavit
MESQUITE, Texas - Mesquite police have released disturbing new details about a sexual assault that happened on the Horn High School campus involving a man who is not a student.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the victim’s mother warned police prior to the attack that the suspect had been harassing her daughter and threatened to show up at her school.
The victim’s mother even went to the school to notify police officers there in person.
Hours later, police said 19-year-old Synnaiz Elijah carried out his threat.
He was able to bypass security at Horn High School on Tuesday afternoon by convincing another student to let him in through a locked exterior door.
Dressed in all black with a hoodie covering his head, Elijah then found his ex-girlfriend in the hallway. The affidavit says he slapped her across the face, pulled out a kitchen knife, and threatened to stab her.
The report says that the teen, fearing for her life, went into a bathroom stall with Elijah where he allegedly choked her and sexually assaulted her. He also smashed her school Chromebook before fleeing.
"After the incident, it’s our understanding that the victim went to the front office and notified staff of what had occurred," said Mesquite Police Lt. Michael Kelly.
A teacher saw Elijah in the hallway following the assault and approached him. Police said that’s when he ran away from the campus.
Mesquite high school student sexually assaulted in bathroom by man who sneaked into campus: police
Police say the Seagoville man bypassed security at Horn High School after a student allowed him in through a locked exterior door.
He was arrested on Tuesday night at his home in Seagoville and is now charged with aggravated assault of a child.
The affidavit says the security cameras at the school confirmed everything that happened up until the point that the suspect and the victim entered the bathroom, where there are no cameras.
School safety in question
State lawmakers made school safety a top priority in response to the deadly mass shooting in Uvalde. Legislation passed last year created the requirement for an armed security guard to be present on all campuses and silent panic alarms to be installed in classrooms, among other safety enhancements.
At Horn High School, police said there are two designated entry points to the school and three officers are always assigned to the campus.
"It is a very rare occurrence but is the reason for the procedures and protocols and why students need to make sure they follow them," Lt. Kelly said.
Retired FBI special agent Kenneth Gray told FOX 4 even the best security plans aren’t full proof.
"If somebody goes and let somebody in or opens up a way for the person to gain access without going through the proper measures, then all of that is wasted because the opportunity is then there for somebody to take advantage of it," said Gray, who is now a criminal justice lecturer at the University of New Haven.
"And you just need one individual to have nefarious intentions to have the ability to acces that vulnerable spot and they'll get in," added Dr. Alex Piquero, a criminology professor at the University of Miami.
In a letter to parents, the Mesquite Independent School District said that the student who let Elijah into the building will be disciplined.
Some parents raised concerns about how long he went unnoticed and the district’s decision to wait until the next day to notify parents about what happened.
They will have a chance to voice their concerns at a Mesquite ISD school board meeting on Thursday night.