4-year-old Charlotte boy was asleep in bed when killed by stray bullet: reports
Four-year-old Caleb Flax was asleep in his bed when he was hit by a stray bullet early Sunday, and he never woke up, relatives told WSOC.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are continuing to search for suspects in his killing, which happened when someone fired shots into multiple homes along the 900 block of Grassy Patch Lane in northwest Charlotte.
It happened around 3 a.m., and Caleb died four hours after being taken to a hospital, CMPD says. Another person was also hit, and hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
CMPD has not released that person’s name, but WSOC reports it was a woman who was shot in the thigh.
Caleb’s first day of school was just a few weeks ago, relatives posted on Facebook. His favorite pastimes were riding his bike and watching football, relatives told media outlets.
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“I feel so lost. I lost my best friend,” Bryan Beatty wrote in a Facebook post, identifying himself as the boy’s grandfather.
Sheika Furtick, his aunt, is furious and demanding justice. She lashed out at the shooters for targeting an entire neighborhood of innocent people.
“I hate ya’ll,” she wrote on Facebook. “Y’all got my baby! I pray the karma you get haunts you for life! … Everything attached to y’all, even down to the kids!”
CMPD has not yet released details of suspects or a motive in the case.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police addressed Caleb’s death in a Facebook post, calling it heartbreaking and an example of “senseless gun violence.”
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This story was originally published September 21, 2026 at 11:59 AM.
