Khalil Ali Echoles was fatally wounded inside his home, where another child was present but escaped physical injury.
PINEVILLE, N.C. — A family fundraising page remembers 5-year-old Khalil Ali Echoles as a bright and joyful boy with a room-lighting smile. Police reports describe the far different final moments of his life: an emergency call after midnight, officers trying to save him and the arrest of his father on a murder charge.
The public identification of Khalil placed a name and a small glimpse of personality behind a case first reported simply as the killing of an unnamed child. His father, 31-year-old Jehaaz-Akil Khaliq Echoles, is charged with first-degree murder after police said he forced his way into the apartment where Khalil lived, entered the boy’s bedroom and left him fatally wounded. Echoles has not been convicted, and authorities have not released a motive.
Most of what has been made public about Khalil concerns the crime scene and the efforts to save him. Family members and friends provided a different account through the fundraiser created to help pay funeral costs. WCCB quoted the page as calling Khalil “sweet, bright, and joyful” and saying his smile could light up every room. No broader family statement was included in the reports reviewed for this article, leaving the fundraiser as the clearest public remembrance of the child himself. Khalil was inside an apartment at the Sabal Point complex in Pineville during the early hours of July 9. His mother and another child also were there. Investigators said the second child was not hurt. Police have protected that child’s identity and have not disclosed the child’s relationship to Khalil, age or location in the home when the violence occurred. The mother’s name also has not been widely released in the coverage reviewed for this report.
The mother told investigators that Echoles was her former boyfriend, Khalil’s father and not a resident of the apartment. According to court documents cited by local stations, Echoles broke through the front door and went to Khalil’s room. He shut the bedroom door behind him. The mother heard a disturbance and opened the door, at which point Echoles ran from the room and out of the apartment, her account says.
She then found Khalil unresponsive and called 911. WCNC reported that the recording captured her pleas and the father’s voice during the unfolding emergency. The station’s account indicates that the call began before she saw the full extent of what had happened inside the bedroom. Authorities have not released a complete, official transcript, and only limited portions of the recording have been described publicly.
Pineville police arrived at the apartment complex shortly after midnight in response to a reported assault with a deadly weapon. Officers found Khalil outside in his mother’s arms, according to WSOC-TV. Police began emergency care and chose to drive him to a hospital in a patrol vehicle rather than wait for another form of transportation. He was pronounced dead after reaching the hospital.
Authorities said Khalil had suffered multiple wounds caused by what investigators described as an edged weapon. News reports initially included specific descriptions of the injuries. Those details are not necessary to understand the criminal allegation and are omitted here. Police have not said whether a suspected weapon was found in the apartment, along a route away from the complex or with Echoles when he was arrested.
Officers located Echoles later at a Taco Bell in Pineville, approximately a mile from the apartment according to published accounts. The restaurant’s role in the story is limited to the location of the arrest. Police have not said he purchased food, explained why he went there or described what he was doing immediately before officers took him into custody. Claims beyond the confirmed arrest location would be speculation.
Echoles was booked on a charge of first-degree murder. WCCB also reported charges of assault on a female and simple assault. WSOC-TV listed assault on a female along with the homicide count and reported that an active warrant had existed in an earlier assault case. Available reports did not provide a complete charging document that clearly tied each additional count to conduct on the night Khalil died.
The child’s death brought attention to Echoles’ previous contacts with the criminal justice system. Local reports said he had a prior conviction for assaulting a woman and pending cases involving similar allegations. Law&Crime cited arrest affidavits alleging that he struck a woman with a belt in one case and threw keys at another woman during a dispute involving a borrowed vehicle. Those accusations are separate from Khalil’s death and should not be treated as proof of the murder charge.
Pineville police described the killing as a domestic incident and said it was not random. That description indicates officers believed the people involved knew one another and that residents outside the family were not selected as targets. It does not explain why Khalil was allegedly attacked. Investigators have not announced whether the parents had argued earlier, whether Echoles made threats or whether there were court orders governing contact with the family.
The lack of a stated motive remains one of the central unanswered questions. Police have not released any account from Echoles, and the reports reviewed for this article did not identify a defense attorney authorized to speak for him. Authorities also have not disclosed whether investigators obtained surveillance recordings from the apartment complex, the restaurant or businesses between the two locations.
For the family, the criminal case proceeds alongside a loss that is not measured by court dates. The fundraiser’s description of Khalil as a child who brought joy to others stands apart from official language about charges, affidavits and evidence. The family’s effort was directed toward funeral costs, an immediate expense following a death that police said occurred without warning inside the child’s own home.
A neighbor interviewed by WSOC-TV said learning about the killing was unsettling and heartbreaking and offered sympathy to the family. Public reports have not described a formal vigil, school memorial or community service for Khalil. Nor have officials released information about where he attended school or whether counselors were made available to classmates. Those details should remain private unless the family or responsible institutions choose to release them.
Police Officer Corey Copley told WSOC-TV that the department was supporting the victims and helping connect them with resources. The comment reflected that the harm extended beyond the child who died. Khalil’s mother witnessed the immediate aftermath, and another child was present in the apartment. Authorities have not discussed their condition beyond saying they were not physically injured.
The first-degree murder charge will require the state to present evidence in court and give the defense an opportunity to contest it. The mother’s reported account is important to the investigation, but prosecutors may also seek medical evidence, emergency-call records, photographs, fingerprints, electronic data and footage showing movements before and after the incident. Police have not provided an inventory of what they recovered. Initial reports said Echoles was held without bond in the Mecklenburg County jail and was due in court July 30. No verified report reviewed by Aug. 4 provided a later case schedule, plea, indictment or ruling from that appearance. Until a court determines the facts, Echoles remains accused rather than convicted.
Khalil’s death remains the fixed fact at the center of the case. He was 5 years old, he was taken from his apartment by officers trying to save him, and he did not survive. While investigators continue seeking answers about the attack, his family’s public words describe how they want him remembered: not as a detail in a charging document, but as a joyful child whose presence mattered to the people who knew him.
Author note: Last updated Aug. 4, 2026.