Investigators say a ringing phone preceded a confrontation that ended only after a child opened the vehicle and relatives intervened.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A ringing cellphone, a locked car and repeated attempts to summon help form the sequence police describe in a northeast Memphis domestic-violence case that left a woman injured and her former boyfriend facing attempted murder and three other criminal charges.
Khy’ric Mason, 27, is accused of attacking his 25-year-old former girlfriend while the two were inside her Hyundai Elantra near a residence where his relatives were close enough to respond after the woman called attention to the struggle. Police say her 9-year-old son also intervened by opening a car door and trying to help her escape. Mason was charged with attempted first-degree murder, kidnapping, domestic assault causing bodily harm and theft of property. The allegations have not been established as fact at trial.
The confrontation described by investigators began without the sort of event that usually draws outside attention. Mason, the woman and her son were sitting in the vehicle on a Monday afternoon when her phone started ringing, according to an affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime. Mason asked who was calling. Police say the woman did not answer his question and that he became angry. Local reporting said the episode came after the woman broke up with Mason, providing the relationship context for what followed.
Authorities say Mason then sought to speak with the woman without her son in the car. He told the 9-year-old to go inside the residence, according to investigators. Once the child was out, police allege Mason locked the vehicle’s doors. That moment is significant in the chronology because the dispute moved from a conversation involving three people to an encounter between two adults inside an enclosed space. It also forms part of the factual basis underlying the kidnapping allegation filed against Mason.
Police say the physical assault began with Mason reaching from the passenger side toward the woman. Investigators accused him of putting both hands around her neck and strangling her while pulling and twisting her neck. The affidavit further describes Mason shifting toward the rear portion of the car and attempting to pull the woman backward while continuing to hold her. The language in the filing reflects the police account of a potentially life-threatening assault, but prosecutors must still prove their allegations in court.
The woman tried to create noise and draw the attention of people outside the vehicle, according to police. Investigators said she used the steering-wheel horn while resisting Mason. The horn was more than a detail in the affidavit: it was one of the few ways available to her, under the police account, to alert people nearby while the doors were locked and Mason allegedly maintained a grip around her neck. She also bit Mason’s finger during the struggle, police said.
Authorities allege Mason then bit the woman’s left cheek, causing a serious wound. Responding officers later reported seeing a facial bite injury involving missing tissue, along with abrasions and bruising around her neck and chest. Those observations offered police physical evidence they said was consistent with the woman’s account. The available reporting does not state whether she required surgery, how long she was treated or whether doctors expected lasting effects, and those details should not be assumed.
Outside the car, the woman’s son re-entered the sequence of events. Police said the 9-year-old managed to open the passenger-side door and tried to help his mother get out. The reports do not explain exactly how he was able to open the door after investigators said Mason had locked the vehicle, but authorities clearly describe the child’s action as an effort to assist his mother while the confrontation remained active. His identity has not been published in the reports reviewed for this story.
The woman’s screams then brought several of Mason’s family members to the vehicle, according to the affidavit. Their arrival created another interruption in an encounter police say had continued despite the woman’s resistance and use of the horn. The relatives separated Mason and the woman. The available reports do not name them or suggest that they helped Mason carry out the alleged assault. Instead, police described them as intervening to stop the confrontation once they became aware of it.
Investigators say the situation then shifted from an alleged assault to an unauthorized departure with the woman’s property. After relatives separated the pair, Mason allegedly drove away in her Hyundai without permission. Police added a theft charge to the attempted murder, kidnapping and domestic assault counts. A report summarizing local coverage identified the theft allegation as involving property valued between $2,500 and $10,000. The available sources do not provide a detailed account of how or where the car was recovered.
Officers responding afterward documented what they said they could see on the woman: bruising and abrasions around the neck and chest and the injury to the cheek. She identified Mason as the person who attacked her, according to the reports. Police later arrested him. Initial coverage said he was booked into the Shelby County Detention Center and held on $100,000 bond, with a bond hearing scheduled shortly after the arrest.
The case also carries a public-employment dimension because Mason was identified as a Memphis firefighter. City payroll records support that reporting independently. A 2023 municipal salary report listed Khyric Mason as a Fire Recruit, while later city records listed him as Fire Private II. Nothing in the police account suggests that the alleged attack was connected to his official duties, and the sources reviewed do not establish that he was working when the incident occurred.
The available municipal records also should not be used to infer what happened to Mason’s job after his arrest. They predate the alleged assault, and no reliable source reviewed through Sept. 20 provided a confirmed disciplinary decision from Memphis Fire Services. Whether a public employee is suspended, placed on leave or dismissed is a separate administrative question from whether that person is ultimately convicted in criminal court. Neither outcome should be assumed from the fact that charges were filed.
The allegations illustrate why the details of sequence matter in a charging account. Police do not describe one isolated act. They describe a progression: the phone rings, the child is sent away, the doors are locked, the woman is allegedly grabbed by the neck, she sounds the horn and fights back, the child opens a door, relatives intervene, and Mason allegedly leaves in her car. Each part supports a different piece of the narrative authorities presented when seeking criminal charges.
At the same time, that narrative remains the government’s early account. The accessible reports do not provide testimony tested under cross-examination, a defense filing disputing individual allegations, a trial record or a final judicial ruling. They also do not identify a later plea or conviction. An arrest affidavit can explain why police believed probable cause existed, but it is not a substitute for the complete evidentiary process that follows a criminal charge.
No reliable, accessible update reviewed through Sept. 20 established that the case had reached a final resolution. Mason therefore remains accused, not convicted, on the basis of the material available for this report. The most recent confirmed procedural information in the initial coverage was that he had been jailed on bond and faced further court proceedings, leaving the ultimate outcome for the Shelby County court process.
Author note: Last updated September 20, 2026.