NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Parents and teachers are questioning why a student with a disturbing criminal history was allowed to return to school after the release of juvenile court records from the Antioch High School shooter.
The records confirm fears expressed by teachers following the shooting, revealing another example of what some call Tennessee's broken juvenile justice system.
Solomon Henderson walked into Antioch High School on Jan. 22 and shot and killed Dayana Escalante, 16, before shooting himself.
Just hours earlier, he was in juvenile court signing paperwork promising not to possess a weapon.
"He told us he was going to do it, and he did it," said one teacher.
Several Antioch High School teachers expressed frustration with the school's disciplinary policies.
"Where did we go wrong here? What happened to allow this child to go so far this way that there was minimal intervention," said a teacher who requested anonymity.
"There have been numerous threats against teachers and students in the school. I'm going to kill you videos, and all they get is a two-day suspension, and they come right back," another teacher said.
Court records show Henderson threatened another student with a box cutter in October 2024 after she said hi to him.
He also threatened to "cut anyone that walked up on him." He received a two-day suspension before returning to school.
This wasn't Henderson's first encounter with law enforcement.
He was arrested in 2023 and charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor for downloading child pornography.
In 2020, he was arrested and charged with assaulting his mother in Montgomery County.
"It begs the question how did he get a slap on the wrist apparently for the box cutter scenario," said NewsChannel 5 Legal Analyst Nick Leonardo.
Leonardo said the Legislature took the unusual step of unsealing Henderson's juvenile records because they're frustrated with how some juvenile cases are handled.
"A lot of folks think the (Tennessee) General Assembly is really targeting counties where they don't approve of how they handle their juvenile court systems," Leonardo said.
Teachers questioned the school's response as well.
"The way the disciplinary matrix is set up, there's nothing we could do," a teacher said.
Metro Nashville Public Schools refused to comment about Henderson's case.
Their discipline policy shows students can be expelled for "A threat to cause harm to students," but states "The threat must include a detailed plan."
Metro chose to suspend him for two days instead of expelling him.
State Representative William Lamberth, (R-Portland), was so upset by how the case was handled that he sponsored the change in law allowing Henderson's records to become public.
"If someone goes into a school and they kill a child that's horrendous. Every single aspect of their background should be looked at by all of us," Lamberth said. "So many times when we have these school shootings it's not by someone where everybody goes, 'Well, I never would have seen that coming.' It's almost always done by some kid or young person who is so deranged everybody goes 'Yeah, I expected they would have done something."
Court records show the exploitation charges were "retired" after Henderson underwent treatment.
In the box cutter case, he pleaded guilty, and the case was set for judicial diversion, meaning the charges would have been dismissed if he had stayed out of trouble.
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