Four year-old boy shot dead while sleeping as 80 bullets fired in drive-by: ‘He should have been safe in his bed’

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A four-year-old North Carolina boy was shot dead while sleeping in his own bed after a group of seven young men arrived in his neighborhood in stolen cars and opened fire on four houses, according to reports.

Caleb Flax was killed in the rampage that took place on Grassy Patch Lane, Charlotte, at approximately 3 a.m. on Sunday September 20, which saw at least 84 bullets sprayed into his home and three others from a passing Mercedes and an Infiniti, court documents cited by WBTV reveal.

Just weeks away from starting school, Flax was hit in the head by one of the bullets and rushed to hospital but died four hours later.

Bryanna Flax, the boy’s mother, told WCCB last week: “He was laying beside me when it happened and I tried to cover his body, but I guess he had already got hit. It broke my heart. I’m just. I’m just numb right now.”

Brian Beatty, his grandfather, told WBTV: “Caleb was a force and his smile could light up a room. If you ever encountered him, you would’ve loved him like I did.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced Thursday they had arrested five of the men – four teenagers and one adult – and described the shooting that killed Flax and critically injured an adult in another of the houses hit, Kaley Collins, as “senseless.”

“Caleb should have been safe in his own bed,” CMPD Police Chief Estella D Patterson said. “Instead, his life was ended in an act of unthinkable violence, and another victim was wounded.

“From the moment this investigation began, our detectives have been relentless in their pursuit of justice for the victims and their families.

“The five arrests announced today are a direct result of that unwavering commitment and we will not rest until every person responsible for this tragedy is brought to justice.”

The CMPD named the four teens it had arrested as: Ar’montae Johnson, 16; Jaylen Vontae Barber, 16; Antonio Kahron Ladson, 17; and Ian Garland, 17.

All four have been charged with murder, attempted murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling (four counts), conspiracy to commit a felony and accessory after the fact.

The only adult arrested so far, Terrance Jackson, 22, is charged with accessory after the fact.

The court documents reveal the shooters fled the scene but investigators found the Mercedes abandoned a day after the attack and were able to link it to Johnson after discovering that his iPhone had been connected to it five days earlier.

GPS data from the phone duly revealed him to have been at the scene from which both vehicles had been stolen.

Johnson reportedly told police he had driven the car to an Airbnb party the night before the assault and handed over the keys to associates he knew to be armed who said they planned to “shoot at windows as retaliation for another shooting.”

He and Barber subsequently told officers that Garland had been the driver of the Mercedes, leading to his arrest, while Johnson said Ladson had driven the participants back to the party afterwards in a Jeep.

A Glok 27 containing rounds matching those recovered from the scene was duly found at Ladson’s home when a search warrant was executed, causing him to be arrested too.

Jackson, meanwhile, allegedly helped Johnson reprogram a key to the 2018 Infiniti involved before they sold it on to a buyer in South Carolina for $1,200.

The CMPD has described its investigation into the remaining individuals involved as “active and ongoing.”

Community memorials have since been held in Flax’s memory, including a balloon release event in Charlotte’s Enderly Park, and a GoFundMe page has been set up to support his grieving mother.

“This loss has devastated Bryanna in a way that is hard to put into words,” the organizers of the crowdfunding effort said.

“This was Bryanna’s only child, and they shared an unbreakable bond. She is deeply hurt and going through an unimaginable traumatic process as she faces the loss of her son.”