LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After leaving Laura Dearing Elementary School in the Clark County School District last Friday night, 6-year-old Mila walked more than a mile down several busy streets.
"Who knows what could have happened?" said Mila's father, Shane Blackbird. "Obviously, we're happy we found her, but this is purely unacceptable."
Blackbird says Mila's mother was supposed to pick her up at 4:30 p.m., but when she arrived, their daughter was nowhere to be found.
"We were kind of scrambling and panicking," Blackbird said. "After about 20 minutes, she ends up calling the police. Come to find out, a good Samaritan found her about a mile away at a gas station."
He says his daughter had a "letter P" drawn on her wrist that night. According to Blackbird, that's an indicator the school applies to tell teachers that Mila was to be picked up by her parents.
"I know my 6-year-old was probably just devastated. She was scared," Blackbird said. "She's 6 years old, walking home at night in a bad neighborhood, I mean, what would go through your mind at that age, I can only imagine."
According to the Las Vegas Metro Police Crime Map, Mila's school is in the 6th highest crime zip code in the valley, recorded over the last two weeks.
Blackbird filed a report with Metro's Abuse and Neglect Division and is exploring possible legal action against both the district and the school.
"I mean, we're definitely getting an investigator involved, getting my attorney involved," Blackbird said. "As far as what we're going to do, I don't know, I want to see what the proper action is, but they definitely need to pay for their consequences."
Channel 13 News reached out to CCSD about this incident. They sent a response saying.
"The school is aware of the matter, and the school administration has contacted the student's parent/guardian to address the situation. An extracurricular event after the regular school day ended on Friday created an unusual dismissal procedure that day, but each school sets dismissal protocols to ensure the safe release of students at the end of the day and during after-school activities."
Mila's parents have decided to withdraw Mila from Laura Dearing Elementary School indefinitely and are looking at other schooling options.
