Driver wanted after running stop sign, hitting and killing 10-year-old boy who was riding bike: HCSO

A neighbor told ABC13 the young boy was shooting off fireworks and having fun with friends before the deadly crash.

Saturday, July 6, 2024 3:20AM
Driver wanted after running stop sign, hitting and killing 10-year-old boy who was riding bike: HCSO
Investigators believe the driver ran a stop sign before the deadly crash. The boy's bike was found ditched about half a mile away after deputies said it appeared it got caught under the driver's SUV.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Deputies are searching for a hit-and-run driver who ditched a dead boy's bike after hitting and killing him in northwest Harris County.

It happened along Windy Stone Drive at Concord Green Drive shortly before 11 p.m. on the July Fourth holiday.

Harris County sheriff's deputies said an SUV was traveling north on Concord Green Drive and the young boy was traveling west on Windy Stone Drive when the collision happened. According to authorities, the driver ran through a stop sign before hitting the boy on his bike. The driver fled the scene, failing to stop and render aid, officials said.

The boy was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead.

Authorities identified him as 10-year-old Mohammad Hussain Khel.

According to HCSO, after the driver hit Mohammad, the bicycle was stuck underneath the driver's SUV. It was dragged for nearly a mile before the driver got out, dislodged it and, at the intersection of Old Greenhouse and Kieth Harrow, left it on the side of the road.

"That part is unreal," Sasha Allen, a neighbor who left a teddy bear at a growing memorial Friday night, said. "I just hope they find who did it and they get justice."

"I don't know who would do such a thing. I hope their guilt eats them," another neighbor said as she looked over the balloons, stuffed animals, and heartfelt messages.

The only description investigators had was that the wanted suspect drove a dark-colored SUV.

"We are canvassing the area. We do think we may have some video," Capt. Marcus Kinnard-Bing said. "A lot of people heard things, but we're still working on the video."

ABC13 reporter Courtney Fischer spoke to a neighbor who heard the crash.

"Sweet, sweet, sweet little boy," Malaika Roberts said of Mohammad, who she described as well-mannered and respectful.

Roberts said Mohammad and some other boys were having fun across the street, shooting off fireworks and celebrating the Fourth. She went inside, and then she heard the loud crash.

"And within that split second, this happened," Roberts recalled. "I thought it was a car wreck. It didn't dawn on me that it was a little boy."

Roberts and other neighbors in the area told ABC13 they see drivers run through that stop sign all the time.

"They always run that stop sign, that four way intersection, always," Roberts said.

ABC13 spoke to several neighbors who had doorbell video of the horrific aftermath, though no one seemed to have gotten a good look at the driver or the vehicle that hit the boy.

In a post on social media, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez asked neighbors to check their security cameras. Anyone with information is urged to call the Harris County Sheriff's Office at 713-221-6000, 713-274-7406 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).