Soldier arrested after toddler shot at Fayetteville apartment

A U.S. Army enlistee was in custody Saturday after a random shooting involving him and another soldier in which a 3-year-old child was wounded Friday evening, authorities said.

Brian Michael Cavalier, 22, of Fayetteville, was being held at the Cumberland County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, police said in a written statement. Cavalier has been charged with discharging a weapon into occupied property and discharging a weapon into occupied property, causing serious bodily injury.

Authorities said Cavalier and another man, identified as Max Michael, were in an apartment, located 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 adjoining wall of a next-door apartment, police said.

The boy in the adjacent apartment was shot in the shoulder before being 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.

3-year-old boy struck by stray bullet in Fayetteville

Police said Michael was released without being charged.

Both men were in the Army, although police did not say if they were stationed at Fort Bragg.

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.