A North Carolina man has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly breaking into his ex-girlfriend's flat and fatally stabbing his five-year-old son before leaving to visit a nearby Taco Bell. Jehaaz-Akil Khaliq Echoles, 31, was arrested by Pineville police following the attack, which authorities have described as a domestic incident rather than a random act of violence. The case has drawn attention for both its brutality and the accused's apparent conduct immediately afterwards.

Officers were called to the Sabal Point Apartments in Pineville shortly after midnight on Thursday over a report of an assault with a deadly weapon, and found the child with multiple stab wounds. According to an arrest affidavit reported by WGHP, the boy's mother said Echoles kicked in the door, entered their son's bedroom and closed the door; when she heard a commotion and opened it, he fled, leaving the child bleeding and unresponsive with wounds to his head, neck and arms. Officers performed emergency care and rushed the boy to hospital in a patrol car, but he was later pronounced dead; the mother and another child in the home were unharmed. Echoles, who has a previous criminal history for assault, was arrested at a nearby Taco Bell, and the motive remains unclear.