The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death Khalon Pierre, 16, of Palm Coast, in a collision with a Florida East Coast railway locomotive at the railroad’s crossing of County Road 304 south of Bunnell Saturday night (Feb. 21). The boy had been reported missing on Feb. 20.
“All indications are that it is a suicide, from the evidence at the scene,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said this morning. The evidence included video from the train.
The sheriff said his deputies took a missing-person report on a 16-year-old boy on Feb. 20. “He’d packed his bags, rode off on a bicycle. We began searching for him at his known locations, entered him in various databases,” Staly said. The missing person was Pierre. He’d used a debit card at a Walmart in DeLand that night, but the store had closed by the time authorities were alerted.
The next day investigators found video of Pierre making purchases at the DeLand Walmart, then leaving on his bicycle. Authorities were unable to locate him during the day, and he had not qualified for an Amber Alert. Five years earlier, when he was 11, he’d run away, but returned home. A family member told detectives that he did not have suicidal thoughts or have concerning health issues.
Saturday night the Sheriff’s Office got a call from the FEC train dispatch center saying “that an individual had run in front of the train, and the train hit its emergency brakes but obviously it was too quick, and sadly he died,” Staly said.
It was not until detectives at the scene identified the boy that the connection was made between Pierre and the missing-person report. His family was then notified.
“This is a tragedy,” Staly said. “It’s a tragedy for the family, a tragedy for his friends, a tragedy for our deputies and detectives who worked so hard to find him.”
Staly had a conversation with Superintendent LaShakia Moore, who said Pierre had been homeschooled for the last two years. Though he was connected to Flagler Palm Coast High School, he had not been at the school for those two years. Moore confirmed that Pierre “was in good standing with his home evaluations.”
No vehicle other than the train was involved. Pierre’s bicycle was recovered at the scene. County Road 304 was closed to traffic from around 8 p.m. into the early morning hours as the on-scene investigation took place. The freight train involved in the fatality had halted and remained at the scene throughout, also suspending traffic on the railway.
Flagler County Fire Rescue personnel were dispatched to the scene, Fire Rescue Chief Michael Tucker said. The train involved in the collision was traveling south. It had left Jacksonville an hour and a half before the collision.
According to federal data, there have been 16 fatalities on FEC’s rail lines in the last two years, not including those involving Brightline trains, which share FEC’s rail lines from Orlando to Miami. Twenty-nine fatalities have happened at FEC’s crossings (the rail line has 706 such crossings). Including Brightline, the number of fatalities rises to 62, most of which are categorized as “trespassers” in federal data.
The following resources are available for individuals in crisis:
In Flagler: The Crisis Triage and Treatment Unit (CTTU) is a crisis assessment and referral service for Flagler County residents experiencing behavioral health crisis. It is located at 301 Justice Lane in the Brown & Brown Outpatient building at the Vince Carter Sanctuary in Bunnell. This program is limited to individuals escorted to the program by law enforcement between the hours of noon and midnight daily. Law enforcement is able to transport individuals to SMA to assess and determine the appropriate clinical disposition. When required and appropriate, SMA then transports the individual to a receiving facility in Volusia County.
In Daytona Beach: Stewart-Marchman Act Corporation Crisis Center
1220 Willis Avenue
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Crisis Line: (800) 539 – 4228
Available 24 hours.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800/273-8255 (TALK), or use the online Lifeline Crisis Chat, both available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Veterans Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255.
People 60 and older can call the Institute on Aging’s 24-hour, toll-free Friendship Line at 800-971-0016. IOA also makes ongoing outreach calls to lonely older adults.
If you are concerned for someone else, read about warning signs here. For additional resources, see the Speaking of Suicide website.
celia says
He had not qualified???: “he had not qualified for an Amber Alert” and why NOT? He was still a child and probably mentally affected that needed help! He should have been stopped,, detained, treated and returned home. He was home schooled and with medical issues and no Amber Alert? Isn’t time they use the taxes we pay to spend in our services first?
TR says
Mentally affected by what? If no one knew where he was how are they going to stop, detain,treat and return him home? A family member told detectives that he did not have suicidal thoughts or have concerning health issues. So how do you know he had medical issues when the family member says he did not?
Never the less this is a tragic situation.
C says
It says, no concerning health issues.
JimboXYZ says
I tend to agree with you on this one, that there should’ve been an Amber Alert. And I’m also curious as to why the system wouldn’t monitor his debit card & bank account. They would’ve known that he or someone using h8is debit card was in DeLand at a Wal-Mart spending money on goods during his disappearance. Food & other basic necessity items most likely ? Do his parents have access to the bank account online ? Banks for debit & credit cards monitor suspicious activity, one can even freeze & unfreeze to suspend a card from usage.
Autumn a says
Why would a kid that is suicidal or depressed Pack a bag and run away from home? I’m totally confused on this one and I hope that flagler sheriff’s office looks closer into this. Even a family member said that he wasn’t suicidal too it just doesn’t sit right with me. And he went to Walmart all the way in DeLand just before like?
Been There Done That says
@Autumn (and anyone else who is puzzled) A family member of mine died this way many years ago. The parents denied any problems or suicidal thoughts because of denial and embarrassment. I knew otherwise through personal encounters. There was just NO convincing them otherwise. To admit it would be to admit failed parenting. Face it, if the poor young man ran away before, and then again now, he had troubling thoughts even if his family was unaware. It is a tragedy that no family should have to process, especially in the manner. Unless you have had personal experience with this kind of situation, nobody should speculate anything about it. The publicity alone will be enough burden for the family to bear, and the intensity of the grief is difficult to match. Also, as far as riding a bike all the way to DeLand, people with suicidal thoughts do not make rational decisions. To go that far on a bike likely provided a very long time to dwell on his thoughts and whatever was making him feel dark. I felt that way at that age and only live today because of a dear friend and lots of counseling.
Concerned Citizen says
I am sorry that a life was lost.
I see by the caption in the picture that Flagler Live and Sheriff Earp like others are trying to blame the Engineer. This young man sadly decided to step in front of a moving train. There isn’t a whole lot the Engineer can do in such a situation.That Engineer will have to live with this the rest of his life.
FlaglerLive says
Concerned Citizen’s sanctimonious prickliness sometimes degrades into misjudgments. No one is blaming the engineer. The caption, the headline, the article and contextual information all make it clear it was a suicide and, in the sheriff’s characterization, a “tragedy.” Using an article of this nature to attempt to score huffy points is in poor taste. It’s not the first time. Alas it won’t be the last.
Standing in the Middle of Palm Coast Parkway says
While Khalon may not have been a victim, there are people and groups using the Internet and communications tools like Snapchat and Discord to target and exploit young people. These criminals befriend and take advantage of youth and then coerce or extort them to engage in crime and or self-harm. Young people who are at odds with their parents (runaways) are often targets. There are hundreds of cases like this throughout Florida and thousands across the U.S. and Canada.
Please share the following advisory — https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250306 — titled ‘Violent Online Networks Target Vulnerable and Underage Populations Across the United States and Around the Globe’. There are similar advisories like this one from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – https://rcmp.ca/en/news/2026/02/4350451 – titled ‘Youth involved in terrorist activities of the 764 Network placed on Peace Bond by RCMP’.