It was Thursday, a school night on Sept. 7, 2023, when two separate groups of teenagers went to a parking lot outside Old National Bank near downtown Sycamore.

Before that, one group had walked along DeKalb Avenue to Culver’s in Sycamore, across from Sycamore High School. Another group had driven to Walgreens.

By about 6 p.m. that evening, however, one of them – Kaleb David McCall, 17, of Sycamore – was bleeding to death in the back of a white Chevrolet sedan, witnesses testified in front of a DeKalb County jury Wednesday morning.

McCall allegedly had been stabbed in the chest by Hamza Khatatbeh, who’d just turned 15 that August.

“From there, Kaleb’s friends frantically try and get him to the hospital,” special prosecutor Derek Dion said in his opening statements, recounting the events. “They pull over about a block later to try to get an ambulance to help, but it’s not enough, and Kaleb dies soon after that.”

One of the girls in the car called 911. By the time police arrived from the station just two minutes down the street, McCall was unconscious, Sycamore police officer Coraima Beltran testified.

McCall was pronounced dead that night. And Khatatbeh was charged with first-degree murder.

In the days after McCall’s death, his father, Scott McCall, said his son loved his friends, biking and skateboarding with them around town. Kaleb loved bonfires, fishing and was enjoying his final year before adulthood. McCall worked at the Sycamore Culver’s with his grandmother. That location later hosted a memorial fundraiser to support his family.

Loved ones of both McCall and Khatatbeh filled Associate Judge Stephanie Klein’s courtroom on Wednesday as the first day of the trial convened. Khatatbeh, now 17, is charged as an adult. He’s also charged with aggravated battery and armed violence.

If convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, the teenager faces at least 20 years in prison.

Video evidence shows stabbing

Prosecutors called almost a dozen witnesses in a packed day, including police officers who responded to the stabbing and five teenagers who witnessed it. DeKalb County Coroner Linda Besler testified about McCall’s autopsy.

Authorities have said McCall died from a single stab wound to the chest. McCall was stabbed on the right side of his chest.

After more than six hours of testimony, the prosecution rested its case. The defense is expected to start arguments at 10 a.m. Thursday.

The jury – made up of eight men and six women, including alternates – was shown autopsy photos of his fatal wound.

Two videos shown in court also appeared to capture the stabbing. One was taken with a cellphone by a witness, a girl who’d been with Khatatbeh. Another came from Old National Bank’s exterior security surveillance camera.

Two girls who’d been with Katatbeh at Culver’s and three others who’d been in the white car with McCall testified. The two groups appeared to suggest in testimony that they didn’t have any significant connection to each other, some saying they didn’t know McCall or Khatatbeh at all.

Shaw Local is not identifying the witnesses who were minors at the time of the stabbing.

The teenagers testified that there had been a verbal exchange of words between the groups. At some point, someone from the car yelled slurs at Khatatbeh’s group on the sidewalk, according to testimony.

The defense and prosecution, however, offered differing arguments as to who instigated the apparent meet-up in the parking lot.

Dion said there was “mutual animosity” between the groups. Defense attorney Brandon Brown argued that Khatatbeh and the girls were walking home with no plans to fight.

Security footage from the Old National Bank building appeared to show the stabbing. At about 6:08 p.m. Sept. 7, a white Chevrolet pulled into a parking lot at the corner of West Elm and Maple streets.

After the car leaves the frame, a boy who authorities say is Khatatbeh walks into the frame. The car soon reenters the video frame from the other side of the parking lot. The car stops. The back passenger door opens, and McCall gets out along with his friend, who also testified.

Khatatbeh appears to move forward toward McCall and the other boy, who approach Khatatbeh at the same time, video shows. McCall appears to attempt to strike Khatatbeh. Khatatbeh stabs McCall around the same time.

The boys part. Khatatbeh begins to walk away out of the camera frame. McCall stumbles, appears to clutch his chest and is helped back into the car by his friend. The car drives away.

McCall’s mother buried her face in her hands while loved ones held and supported her, as the bank’s security footage was played in court.

Multiple witnesses on Wednesday said that Khatatbeh’s dominant hand, his right, was injured before the time of the stabbing.

Several of McCall’s family members cried as they watched footage shown from Beltran’s body camera that showed the aftermath of the fatal stabbing in a parking lot about a block away. McCall lay in the back of the Chevrolet as authorities gave emergency aid.

Multiple teenagers greet responding officers in the video in apparent vocal distress.

A young girl is heard on video saying, “Hamza [expletive] stabbed him.”

Attorneys for both the defense and prosecution haven’t disputed that Khatatbeh was the one holding the knife.

“We don’t want to dilute or diminish that this was a tragedy,” defense attorney Brandon Brown said.

Police never found the knife.

Sycamore Deputy Police Chief Joseph Meeks testified that officers tried searching for the knife using aerial drones and a K9 unit. They looked in sewer grates and a field near Meijer.

But they never found that, or Khatatbeh’s cellphone, he said.

Sycamore police arrested Khatatbeh later that night, Sept. 7, at his home.

Police said the initial 911 call came in as a battery, but was quickly changed to a reported stabbing. Sycamore paramedics also responded.

Khatatbeh’s attorneys are expected to argue Thursday that the teenager acted in self-defense when he stabbed McCall, who they’re arguing was among other youths present that day who instigated a physical fight.

Brown said he expects to show the jury that “McCall and the other people in that car started this, they ignited this, but for their actions, this would not have taken place.”

Brown said Khatatbeh and McCall hadn’t actually met before the stabbing.

Shaw Local has identified Khatatbeh publicly since he is charged as an adult, and the case documents are unsealed. A judge also granted Shaw Local permission to cover the trial and proceedings.

This story was updated at 9:20 p.m. Feb. 18, 2026.