He was killed, decapitated, by forces of four Dahiyah during the event known as Slaughter of the Knezes. The event triggered a widespread revolt which eventually evolved into the First Serbian Uprising. According to contemporary sources from Valjevo, the severed heads of Aleksa Nenadović and Ilija Birčanin were put on some sort of a public display in the central square to serve as an example to those who might plot against the rule of the Dahia.