CHARLOTTE — Charlotte activists are demanding change after a 4-year-old boy was shot dead while sleeping in his home this past weekend.
The person who fired bullets into homes in a northwest Charlotte neighborhood is still on the run, and local activists say they want accountability.
They believe this crime could’ve happened in any part of our city, but it happened in a neighborhood filled with families.
Four-year-old Caleb Flax loved watching football with his grandfather. But this Sunday, instead of watching the game together, Frank Abdullah was watching investigators outside his home.
“We don’t know why. This case right here is isolated, and it’s very hurtful. We don’t know why,” Abdullah told Channel 9.
CMPD says 4-year-old Caleb Flax was killed when someone opened fire into four homes on Grassy Patch Lane early Sunday.
Officers say a woman inside the house next door was also shot in the leg.
A neighbor’s doorbell camera captured the burst of gunfire.
Ibn Tamir Abdul Mutakabbir, the resident imam at the Masjid Ash Shaheed mosque, said, “Every family deserves to be able to sleep in their home, knowing that they’re going to be safe through the night.”
Community activists gathered outside the home where Caleb was killed Wednesday morning.
Mutakabbir says everyone has a role to play in keeping the community safe.
“It means creating safe spaces. It means supporting people who are hurting,” Mutakabbir said. “And it means all of us working together to reduce the violence in our community.”
Abdullah says he hopes their call for action will help prevent another family from experiencing the pain they are feeling.
“My grandson was tragically killed. We just ask for justice for both of them, and we ask for justice for Caleb,” Abdullah said.
CMPD is asking anyone in that neighborhood with surveillance cameras to check their footage for the 10 minutes before the shooting, so around 2:50 to 3 a.m. on Sunday.
They believe more than one person may have been involved. Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers.
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
