A man police say fatally shot a Dallas high school student as he lay in bed and then threatened children not to snitch surrendered on Thursday.
Dallas police said 22-year-old Rashad Earl Mayes was wanted in the shooting death of 17-year-old Lincoln High School student Demaryae Dequan Hill-Young and that he surrendered to police at the Dallas County Jail on Thursday.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 5, the suspect and victim were both socializing with a group Saturday night at a home on Burger Avenue before the teenager was killed.
Police said the home belonged to Mayes's on-again, off-again girlfriend and that he arrived at the home at about 2:20 a.m. and joined a group gathered in a back bedroom. After a few minutes, Hill-Young left the group to lie down in a bedroom where a 7-year-old and 13-year-old were already sleeping.
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According to the affidavit, Mayes walked into the bedroom a short time later and fatally shot Hill-Young in the head multiple times. It's unclear if anything was said between the victim and suspect before Hill-Young was killed.
Two children, ages 13 and 7, were sleeping in the room when the shooting took place and told police they woke up to find Mayes standing over the bed. The children said Mayes threatened their lives before leaving the room. A 15-year-old who heard the gunshots said he ran into Mayes in the bedroom and that Mayes approached him and said, "Don't snitch," and "Control your siblings" before leaving the home.
Police said a 16-year-old called 911 after finding Hill-Young deceased in the bed. Dallas Fire-Rescue arrived at the home and tried to revive Hill-Young, but it was too late.
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Mayes's ex-girlfriend shared their messages with investigators and explained that he believed she had been seeing another man. According to the arrest document, she also showed police an Instagram message that Mayes sent at 1:17 a.m. saying "got me heated."
Following his surrender, Mayes was jailed on a murder charge and is being held on a $1 million bond. It's unclear if he's obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf.
