Mom is hospitalized after police say her 21-year-old son stabbed her at a Waco, Texas, Target. He says the Illuminati allegedly told him to do it
A 21-year-old Texas man is charged with aggravated assault of a family member after police say he stabbed his mother in the neck at a Target in Waco. Galveston Elijah Vriseno is being held on a $100,000 bond following the attack. His sister reportedly told investigators that two days earlier, Vriseno had claimed the Illuminati instructed him to kill both his mother and sister, according to KWTX.
Officers responded to the Target on Bosque Boulevard around 2:22 p.m. and found the 43-year-old woman with a stab wound to the left side of her neck. She was taken to a hospital, where she underwent surgery. Her daughter later said she was in stable condition. The charge against Vriseno is aggravated assault of a family member causing serious bodily injury.
According to the arrest affidavit, surveillance footage showed Vriseno walking with his mother near the store’s optical section before allegedly stabbing her and fleeing. Police later found him at a nearby Jack in the Box, where officers said he appeared to be washing blood from his hands. After receiving a Miranda warning, Vriseno allegedly admitted that the knife found in his pocket was the weapon used in the stabbing.
Police say he was trying to wash blood off his hands across the street
Around 4 p.m., officers learned that Vriseno had called police himself, and they found him at a Jack in the Box across the street. He was still wearing the clothing witnesses described, including a blanket. However, officers said it appeared he was trying to throw the blanket and other items in the trash while washing blood off his hands.
After Vriseno was read his Miranda rights, an officer asked whether the knife in his front left cargo pocket was the weapon he used to stab his mother. Vriseno admitted it was, according to the affidavit. He was also arrested earlier this year after allegedly assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, the outlet previously reported.
The victim was taken to a local hospital, where she underwent surgery for the neck wound. Her daughter has said she is now in stable condition. Waco police have described the investigation into the Target stabbing as ongoing.
The Illuminati he reportedly mentioned hasn’t been active since the 1780s
The Illuminati was a real secret society founded in Bavaria in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, a canon law professor at Ingolstadt, per Britannica. Weishaupt was stripped of his professorship and banished from Bavaria, and records show no activity from the group after 1785. The name lives on, as the order became a fixture in conspiracy theories long after it disbanded.
Aggravated assault is generally a second-degree felony in Texas, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. However, it becomes a first-degree felony when someone uses a deadly weapon and causes serious bodily injury to a family member, under Texas Penal Code Section 22.02. That may matter here, as officers say Vriseno admitted the knife was the weapon.
Should prosecutors pursue the first-degree version of the charge, a conviction could carry five to 99 years or life in prison under Section 12.32 of the Texas Penal Code.
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