Soldier charged with shooting child is 'very sorry,' grandfather says

The grandfather of an Army enlistee, who made his first court appearance on Monday on charges relating to a shooting involving a child, said his grandson was remorseful about what happened.

Brian Michael Cavalier, 22, of Fayetteville, a member of the 1st Brigade Combat Team with the 82nd Airborne Division, was being held at the Cumberland County jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, police said in a written statement.

Authorities said Cavalier and another man, identified as Max Michael, were in an apartment in the 800 block of Lake Pine Drive Friday evening. The men were examining a .45-caliber Ruger handgun when Cavalier apparently fired a bullet into the wall of a next-door apartment, police said.

The boy in the adjacent apartment was shot in the shoulder and was rushed to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center for treatment, police said. The toddler was listed in stable condition Saturday, police said. His injury was not believed to be life-threatening, investigators said.

"We're very sorry it happened," said Donald Cavalier, Brian Cavalier's grandfather. "My first thought and his first thought totally is for the child. We are totally concerned about the child and his health and all that."

According to Brian Cavalier's attorney, he was dismantling his personal handgun after taking it away from a friend who was visiting his apartment.

"Basically, as he was breaking the weapon down, he had failed to clear it, and the bullet came out of the chamber – totally accidental," said Allen Rogers.

Donald Cavalier said the type of round that was in the handgun should not have gone through the wall.

"It's made for self-defense, so a lot of questions about that because it just didn't do what it was supposed to do, and in retrospect for the child, it's good because it probably saved the child's life," he said.

Brian Cavalier is charged with discharging a weapon into occupied property and discharging a weapon into occupied property causing serious bodily injury.

It was not immediately clear how many people were in the next-door apartment when the bullet was fired. Police also did not say if the soldier knew the boy.