Boy, 17, hit with more charges over claims he murdered boy, 4, as he slept in perfect white picket fence home

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1d ago

By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER 18:49 06 Oct 2026, updated 19:34 06 Oct 2026

One of the teenagers who allegedly murdered a young child while he was asleep in his home has been hit with more charges.

Caleb Flax, 4, was shot on September 20 shortly before 3am in Charlotte, North Carolina, when seven armed people jumped out of two stolen cars and fired 84 bullets into four occupied homes on a residential street on the 900 block of Grassy Patch Lane, about 6 miles north of downtown.

Flax was hit in the head by one of the bullets at his pristine home and pronounced dead after being rushed to a local children’s hospital.

Ian Garland, 17, was charged Monday with six counts of possession of a firearm by a minor, five counts of damage to property, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, felony conspiracy and attempted larceny of a motor vehicle.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department had announced last Thursday that Garland and three other teenagers had been arrested on charges including murder, conspiracy and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Garland appeared in Mecklenburg District Court for the first time that day and was given no bond by Judge Rex Marvel, who also told him he could not possess any guns or contact any codefendants.

Police have said the other alleged shooters were Ar’montae Johnson, 16, Jaylen Barber, 16 and Antonio Ladson, 17. The teens are all being charged as adults.

A fifth man, 22-year-old Terrance Jackson, was also arrested and charged as an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping the teens dispose of one of the stolen cars.

An affidavit filed in Mecklenburg District Court viewed by the Daily Mail said the alleged shooters arrived around 2.55am on the day Flax was killed.

Surveillance video seen by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department detectives appeared to show each of them brandishing a firearm.

About one minute later, the suspects fired ‘at least’ 84 times into the four residences, as well as three unoccupied parked vehicles.

They subsequently ran back to their own cars and fled the scene, per the affidavit.

Law enforcement got to the scene at 3.01am and Flax was taken to Levine’s Children’s Hospital. However, he died at 7.18am.

The legal filing added that a second victim, who was only named as ‘KC,’ was shot and suffered ‘serious injuries.’ Their nature was not described.

Chief of Police Estella D Patterson said Flax ‘should have been safe in his own bed.’

‘Instead, his life was ended in an act of unthinkable violence, and another victim was wounded,’ Estella added.

Police had already said that nine other adult victims and five juveniles inside the homes at the time of the shooting remained uninjured.

The suspected shooters talked about wanting to ‘shoot up a house as retaliation’ for a shooting that happened on September 19 at an address in the 3000 block of Silver Birch Drive, according to the affidavit.

The filing specifically alleged that Garland lived at an address in that street, although not the same one.

One of the teens under arrest, Johnson, told police that ‘E,’ which is allegedly Garland’s nickname, had driven a stolen Mercedes-Benz to the shooting that killed Flax, per the affidavit.

Detectives had located the parked and unoccupied Mercedes-Benz the day after the shooting and found a handgun magazine in the driver’s seat, according to the court documents.

They contacted the car’s registered owner, who gave them permission to search the vehicle and process it for evidence.

Police downloaded the car’s infotainment system and allegedly used location data to confirm that it had been at the location of the shooting that killed Flax.

Garland was also identified in surveillance video captured at a 7-Eleven gas station after the shooting, the filing continued.

He was arrested on September 30, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

Garland was scheduled to return to court on October 22 for a probable cause hearing.

However, North Carolina court records viewed by the Daily Mail said that hearing had been canceled.

A new date for Garland had not been issued as of Tuesday afternoon.

Johnson allegedly admitted to police that the plan had come together during a party on September 19, which he took the Mercedes-Benz to.

He gave the keys to the car to ‘several subjects’ who he knew were armed, per the filing.

Johnson allegedly said that the subjects dumped the Mercedes-Benz and the second car, a 2018 Infiniti, and returned to the party in a Jeep.

The court documents also noted that the second stolen car was a 2018 Infiniti.

Other individuals allegedly involved in Flax’s murder have not yet been arrested. Police said the investigation was ‘active and ongoing.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Charles Anderson Jr, who is listed on court records as Garland’s attorney, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for comment.

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