Family and friends came together Saturday night to hold a candlelight vigil for 15-year-old Khaleel Reynolds. He died after he was electrocuted while swimming in a North Villa Hotel swimming pool.
“Sometimes when things like this happen we get angry with God. We lash out, (but) when things like this happen it’s really to draw us close together,” said Khaleel’s father Leonard Straughter.
Straughter said his son was loved by everyone who knew him.
“My son was very smart, intelligent, loving (and) caring. He would take the shirt off his back and give it anybody,” he said.
Loved ones are upset with the hotel because as KPRC 2 Investigates reported the pool should not have been open.
Harris County health inspectors would not grant a permit to open the pool after finding numerous violations including an exposed lighting fixture in July 2018. The company reapplied in December of that year but was again denied a permit to open the pool.
“That’s what I’m angry for,” said Straughter.
Precinct 4 deputies said Reynolds was electrocuted after touching an exposed wire from an interior pool light. At this time, law enforcement is not planning any follow-up investigations as Reynolds’s death is considered accidental.
Reynold’s aunt Teresa Aviles said the family now wants the hotel and pool to be shut down permanently.
“Their negligence cost my nephew his life,” Aviles said.
The family said funeral services are expected late next week.
No decision has been made yet as to whether any citations will be issued by the health department.
A GoFundMe account has been set up by Reynolds’ family members.