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A North Carolina man is accused of forcing his way into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and fatally stabbing his 5-year-old son before leaving the scene and going to a Taco Bell, authorities said.
Jehaaz-Akil Khaliq Echoles, 31, has been charged with first-degree murder, the Pineville Police Department announced Thursday.
Police said officers were called to the Sabal Point Apartments in Pineville shortly after midnight Thursday following a report of an assault involving a deadly weapon. Upon arriving at the apartment, officers found the child suffering from multiple stab wounds.
Officers immediately began providing emergency aid before transporting the boy to a hospital in a patrol vehicle.
Jehaaz-Akil Khaliq Echoles, 31, was charged with first-degree murder. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office)
The child was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
According to an arrest affidavit cited by WGHP, Echoles’ ex-girlfriend — the boy’s mother — told investigators that he broke into the apartment, went into their son’s bedroom and shut the door.
She said she heard a commotion and went to the bedroom and opened the door, at which point Echoles fled, according to the affidavit. She found her son bleeding and unresponsive, covered in stab wounds to his head, neck and arms, and she immediately called 911.
The woman and another child in the home were unharmed.
Officers responded shortly after midnight to the Sabal Point Apartments in Pineville for a report of an assault with a deadly weapon. (Google Maps)
Echoles was later arrested at a nearby Taco Bell, according to police.
Police said this was a domestic incident and not a random act of violence. The motive for the attack is unclear at this time.
Echoles has previous criminal history for assault.
Jehaaz-Akil Khaliq Echoles was arrested at a Taco Bell. (Getty Images)
This includes a conviction in North Carolina for assault on a woman in connection with an October 2020 incident. He also has multiple other assault-related cases going through the court system.
He has been accused of two assaults on women this year. In one case, he beat a woman with a belt. In the other, he threw keys at a woman after he borrowed her car and refused to return it.
Echoles is being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail without bond. His next court date is scheduled for July 30.
