A Massachusetts girl went missing days after she was viciously bullied and assaulted at her new Cape Cod high school and the video of the attack went viral online.
Aliyah Konton, 15, had just transferred to Mashpee High School in Cape Cod when other girls started picking on her, the Daily Mail reported.
In a harrowing video posted to Snapchat by one of the bullies, Konton can be seen slapped, punched, forced into a bathroom, and dragged to the floor by her hair by another girl.
“‘Lick the ground,” the aggressor demanded.
Aliyah could be seen hesitating before the bully yanked her to the floor and made her lick it.
After a school resource officer discovered the video on May 25, the school alerted the police — but not Aliyah’s parents.
The teen’s family was completely in the dark about the brutal attack until Aliyah went missing from her home on Sunday, June 2, eight days after the incident.
Local residents shared their fury in the comments of the Mashpee Police Department’s alert post on Facebook, demanding answers to why the teens seen bullying Aliyah had not faced any known consequences.
“What are the consequences for the ones who in video dragged her by hair into school bathroom and hit her and made her lick the floor? May us parents get some answers?” Selma Parker wrote. “An example and explanation that there are consequences to such behavior is [essential] to make us parents feel school is a safe place to send our kids. The community is failing these children- school should have a safe healthy environment – this is not ok. praying for her.”
“The bullies need to be arrested. They should face consequences for their actions and should be put in jail for their actions,” said Bryan West. “This is not the first time they have bullied people. And if this girl is not found safe they should be held responsible for anything and everything that happens.”
A friend of Aliyah’s told WCVB that the new student was just “trying to make friends” at Mashpee High School.
“She just seems like she was trying to fit in and just trying to make friends with everybody. No student, no person, should ever be harmed in that way,” the classmate said. “I just feel very sick to my stomach because I just want her to be found.”
A press release from the police department announced assault and battery charges on a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly involved in the bullying incident. The case is being handled in Falmouth District Court’s juvenile division.
Thankfully, Aliyah was found safe on Wednesday after two boys at a Planet Fitness in nearby Barnstable recognized her from police alerts , the Daily Mail reported.
“The town of Mashpee came together for one of its own and again I am happy to report she has been found safe,” Mashpee police Chief Scott Carline said at a press conference.