Mom’s video goes viral after alleged death threat against daughter at NLV school

Eleven-year old Melissa Escalante was finishing up her math test when another sixth grader allegedly whispered a death threat in her ear on Thursday, according to her mom, who spoke about the alleged incident in a TikTok video posted Friday that was going viral.

Melissa, a sixth grade student at Smith Middle School in North Las Vegas, immediately reported the incident to the school’s student success center, said Melissa’s mom, Sandy Escalante.

The TikTok video, in which an emotional Escalante describes the situation, had amassed over 1.9 million views, over 196,000 likes and almost 12,000 comments by Friday night.

Escalante, 30, said she learned about the incident when she saw her daughter crying after school. Escalante claimed that the classmate has bullied her daughter before.

“My daughter said that he came up behind her and whispered to her, ‘You better watch your back, because I’m gonna follow you home and I’m gonna kill you,’” Escalante told the Review-Journal.

“We are aware of the matter. The investigation will take place, and then appropriate disciplinary action will be given,” a CCSD spokesperson told the Review-Journal.

@saandeee CCSD & CCSDPD we need to do better!!! This cant be it. #bully #ccsd #middleschool #lasvegas ♬ original sound - Sandy

Escalante said that her daughter is often a target for bullying.

The administration implemented a “safety plan,” where the students have a “no contact” order after the incident, Escalante said. However, that did not work out, she said.

Melissa said that she saw the classmate from a distance, but he sent his friends to tell her to “stop acting crazy,” Escalante said.

The classmate and Melissa had two classes together and school administration changed the classmate’s schedule so they wouldn’t have any more classes together, Escalante said.

She believes that the school’s administration didn’t talk to any of her daughter’s classmates in the math class to see if they witnessed the conversation.

When Escalante said she drove down to the school to speak with assistant principal Aggy Cruz and Clark County School District Police Department officer Christopher Chin after the incident Thursday, she said that she didn’t feel heard.

“She actually mentioned it to officer Chin and to the assistant principal, that this kid does bully other kids in their class by calling them names as well,” Escalante said.

“Officer Chin looked at me in the eyes, dead in the eyes, looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think this kid is gonna kill her,’” Escalante said.

In that meeting, Escalante recalled Chin saying that CCSD police could not do anything if the classmate did not physically harm Melissa.

“So, you’re telling me the only punishment that this student is receiving is that he’s switching his classes?” Escalante said she asked.

“Like, there’s no other punishment that he’s getting? No detention or in-house suspension or suspension? Nothing? That’s crazy to me,” Escalante said.

Escalante said she is hesitant to bring her daughter back to school on Monday.

“My daughter had nightmares all night. She believes that this kid is going to kill her,” Escalante said.

Contact Annie Vong at avong@reviewjournal.com. Follow @annievwrites on X.