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, though, 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 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.”

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.

Kaleb was stabbed on the right side of his chest. The jury – made up of eight men and six women, including alternates – was shown autopsy photos of McCall’s fatal wound.

At a public parking lot at West Elm and Somonauk, his friends called 911. By the time police arrived from the station just 2 minutes down the street, McCall was unconscious, Sycamore police officer Coraima Beltran testified.

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

Several of McCall’s family members cried from the gallery as they watched footage shown from Beltran’s body camera that showed the aftermath of the fatal stabbing. 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.”

Cell phone footage captured by one of the girls Hamza was with at the time showed the stabbing itself: Two boys, including McCall and another, approach Khatatbeh as he approaches them. McCall and Khatatbeh appear to swing at each other at about the same time, McCall with his fist and Khatatbeh holding a knife in his left hand.

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.

Testimony on Wednesday so far has come from police officers who responded to the scene. They said the initial call came in as a battery, but then was quickly changed to a reported stabbing. Sycamore paramedics also responded.

Before the stabbing, Khatatbeh was walking with two other teenagers down DeKalb Avenue from Culver’s. A juvenile witness testified that they intended to walk home after.

Khatatbeh’s attorneys are expected to argue this week 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.

The trial is expected to reconvene on Wednesday afternoon.

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 will be updated.