Child's phone "locked to owner"

Okay, that is actually good news that you recognize the partial account as his. I have seen that reported before on an Organizers phone that is not new where they still received that message. I recommend contacting Apple directly as it may require account access by them, which we cannot do here:

Contact Apple Support - Apple Support

• Do you recognize the partial email address of the account the phone is locked too? If the partial account is your son's, then you just need to reset the password on his account. If the email address is not recognized, then it is locked to someone else.
• Did your son use someone else's account to sign into the phone? This is a common scam on Social Media where someone will make promises of some kind, but it actually turns over complete control of the iPhone to them.
• Is this a phone that was purchased used where the previous owner had not removed their account properly?
• If you have the original purchase receipt from Apple or Authorized Apple Seller and the phone has not been placed in Lost Mode, you can remove that account. Apple does not get involved in third party sales, so a receipt from another party is likely not to be accepted. The information to remove an Activation Lock with the documentation where it has not been placed in Lost Mode is here:

https://al-support.apple.com/#/al/agreement

Thanks Mac Jim ID. It was purchased new, and yes I recognize it, it's his email; I just don't have a way to reset his password. It won't let me reset his password from my iPhone ("new device" warning), and when I go through "iforgot.apple.com" it looks like somehow my phone number is associated with his account (?) so following that workflow just locks my account.