Police say the 9-year-old opened a car door as his mother struggled against her former boyfriend inside a parked Hyundai.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 9-year-old boy helped his mother escape from a parked car after police say her former boyfriend locked the doors, strangled her and seriously injured her face during an attack outside a northeast Memphis home. Relatives then rushed outside and separated the pair, according to accounts of the arrest affidavit.

The intervention by the child is a central part of the criminal case against Khy’ric Mason, 27, who was identified in local reporting and Memphis city records as a Fire Services employee. Mason was charged with attempted first-degree murder, kidnapping, domestic assault causing bodily harm and theft of property. The charges are accusations, and the available reporting reviewed for this story does not establish that he has been convicted of any offense arising from the incident.

Police said Mason was sitting with the woman, who was 25 at the time, and her son inside her Hyundai Elantra on a Monday afternoon when her phone began ringing. According to the affidavit cited by Law&Crime, Mason asked who was calling. The woman did not answer his question, and police said he became upset. Local reporting said the encounter followed the end of their relationship. The available records do not establish what was said immediately before the confrontation beyond the account attributed to the woman and investigators.

Authorities said Mason told the boy to leave the vehicle and go inside the nearby residence so he could speak privately with the woman. After the child got out, police said Mason locked the doors. The decision left the woman and Mason inside the car while the boy was near the house. Investigators allege Mason then reached from the passenger side toward the woman and put both hands around her neck. The affidavit described him pulling and twisting her neck while trying to move her toward the rear seat.

The woman fought back as the struggle continued, police said. She used the car horn in an attempt to draw attention from people nearby while Mason allegedly continued holding her by the neck. The affidavit says she bit one of Mason’s fingers during the confrontation. Police further alleged that Mason bit the woman’s left cheek, causing a significant wound. The description in the court account is unusually severe, but the basic allegation can be stated more simply: investigators said the bite removed tissue from her cheek and left an injury officers could see when they later responded.

The boy, who had been sent away from the car, returned as his mother struggled inside, according to investigators. Police said he was able to open the passenger-side door and tried to help her get out. That act changed the setting from a closed vehicle to a confrontation visible and accessible to other people nearby. As the woman screamed, several of Mason’s family members came outside, according to the affidavit. They separated Mason from the woman, ending the immediate physical struggle described by police.

The relatives’ response is important because it provides another stage in the sequence investigators outlined. Police did not describe them as participants in the alleged assault. Instead, the affidavit says they intervened after hearing or seeing the commotion. The publicly available accounts reviewed for this story do not identify those relatives by name or provide separate statements from them. They also do not indicate whether the boy or the relatives gave recorded witness statements beyond what investigators incorporated into the charging account.

Police said Mason then drove away in the woman’s Hyundai without her permission. That allegation led to the theft charge in addition to the violent-crime counts. Hoodline, citing local reporting, identified the theft allegation as involving property valued between $2,500 and $10,000. The alleged departure in the woman’s vehicle came after the relatives separated the two, according to the sequence described by authorities. Police later arrested Mason, and Law&Crime reported that he was booked into the Shelby County Detention Center.

When officers encountered the woman, they documented visible injuries that they said were consistent with her account of the struggle. Police reported abrasions and bruising around her chest and neck and the wound to her left cheek. Those observations are significant because they are evidence described by responding officers rather than details based solely on a later retelling of the dispute. The available reports do not provide a complete medical record, a physician’s assessment, a long-term prognosis or details about any treatment she may have needed.

The attempted first-degree murder charge is the most serious accusation listed in the initial reporting, but filing a charge does not establish guilt. Prosecutors would still have to prove the elements of any offense they pursue through the court process. The kidnapping allegation appears in the same case as the claim that Mason locked the woman inside the vehicle while the assault took place. Public reporting reviewed for this article does not establish whether a grand jury later modified the charges, whether prosecutors filed additional counts or whether Mason entered a plea.

Mason’s connection to the Memphis Fire Department is independently supported by municipal employment records. A July 2023 city salary report listed Khyric Mason as a Fire Recruit. A March 2024 city salary record listed him as Fire Private II, and the city’s January 2025 employee salary report again listed Mason under Fire Services as Fire Private II. Those records confirm the employment connection reported by local television news, but they do not show his personnel status after the arrest. No reliable source reviewed for this story established whether he was suspended, placed on leave, terminated or remained employed after the charges were filed.

The employment detail has no bearing on whether the criminal allegations are true, but it explains why the case drew attention beyond an ordinary arrest report. Firefighters hold public-safety positions, while the alleged conduct described here occurred during a private relationship and away from a fire station. The available reporting does not indicate that Mason was on duty, using city equipment or acting in an official capacity when the confrontation occurred. It also does not identify any disciplinary decision by Memphis Fire Services connected to the arrest.

The woman’s son is not named in the reports reviewed for this story, consistent with protecting the identity of a minor who was present during an alleged domestic assault. The woman also is not identified by name in the available accounts. What investigators do describe is the sequence of her attempts to get help: sounding the horn while inside the vehicle, continuing to resist and screaming as the confrontation drew the attention of people near the home. The boy’s ability to open the door and the relatives’ subsequent intervention provided the route out of the confined setting described by police.

The court record available for this report does not show how the charges were ultimately resolved. Initial coverage placed Mason in the Shelby County Detention Center on $100,000 bond, but no reliable, accessible source reviewed through Sept. 20 established a plea, dismissal or conviction. The allegations therefore remain unresolved in the material reviewed, and Mason is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Author note: Last updated September 20, 2026.