Fayetteville boy, 3, dies after being shot inside home

Someone fired shots on Peele Street shortly before 3:30 a.m., and one of them went into a mobile home and struck Ahmad Daniels, authorities said.

Ahmad was taken to the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center where he underwent surgery Friday morning. The child was pronounced dead just after 11:40 a.m. Saturday. 

"I heard four shots last night within two minutes," neighbor Crystal Campbell said, adding that she didn't want to investigate. "Me and my family, we're trying to find another place to live because this is a bad area."

Ahmad's uncle, Detwan Harkins, said the boy was sleeping on a mattress in the home, which belongs Ahmed's grandmother, when a stray bullet struck him in the chest.

"I was going crazy at the hospital last night because I was afraid they were going to say my nephew was dead," Harkins said.

Toys sat outside his bullet-riddled home Friday.

"Out of all people, a 3-year-old baby. He didn't do nothing to nobody," Harkins said, calling Ahmed a "happy crybaby" and a "mama's boy."

He said "jealousy" prompted the shooting but didn't elaborate.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office has released few details about what led up to the shooting, and no suspects have been named, but Sheriff Moose Butler noted that the shooting occurred in the same mobile home park that deputies raided last week and confiscated drugs and firearms.

"This situation just further demonstrates how horrible this crime is and how deplorable these living conditions are," Butler said in a statement. "Even though people in this area knew that law enforcement was watching and ready to act, they showed how little respect they have for human life."

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office was investigating the case as a murder. Deputies set up a mobile command post and were seeking leads and tips in the case. 

"Every resource will be used to bring the responsible person or persons to justice for the death of this child," Sheriff Earl Butler said. 

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office at 910-323-1500 or 910-677-5548.