A man is facing charges after allegedly firing shots at a van, injuring a toddler, because he believed the child’s father had parked too closely to his own vehicle.

James Raeford, age 39, has been charged with several offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury. Additionally, he faces six counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. The incident unfolded on a Sunday evening in Charlotte, North Carolina.

At approximately 8 p.m., a man was maneuvering his white GMC Savana work van within an apartment complex situated on the 5700 block of Sloping Oaks Road. Accompanying him was his 3-year-old son, seated in the front passenger seat. According to a criminal affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, the man had just backed his van into a parking space.

Suddenly, and without known provocation, an unknown man began firing at the van, according to the affidavit. Raeford is suspected of discharging at least six shots, one of which struck the child in the back.

In response, the father quickly drove away from the apartment complex, heading to the 6500 block of Woodfield Drive, roughly 10 minutes away, where he contacted 911. Deputies from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office arrived at this location and gathered more information about the shooting.

The injured child was taken to a hospital and, as of Monday, was reported to be “expected to survive.”

A witness told investigators that she was inside her apartment when she heard four or five gunshots. She said she saw a man yelling and heard him say, “I’m going up to get me another clip,” per the affidavit. She described this man as having “braid[s] or dreads about 4-5 inches long,” wearing dark clothes, and having a “green beam that could possibly be a scope on the gun.” He then walked upstairs, entered a third-floor apartment, and left.

Officers say they went to the specified apartment and spoke with a woman there. She told them she was at work when her boyfriend, Raeford, “called her stating that he was involved in an altercation in the parking lot where someone in a white van parked too close to his vehicle.”

The woman added that her boyfriend said “the person in the white van attempted to run him over,” but he made no mention of having fired his weapon. The sheriff’s office said its officers were subsequently allowed to search the apartment “and located a black 9mm magazine that was empty.”

Raeford is said to have approached officers outside a magistrate’s office in the city about 15 minutes away “and stated he was involved in a shooting on Sloping Oaks Rd.” He was then arrested, and he gave his version of events.

The suspect said he recently bought a mid-2000s Infiniti Q50 and had backed it into a parking spot. The white van came along and backed into the parking spot next to his car, “leaving only 4-5 inches of room,” he said, and he “would not be able to enter his vehicle.”

Raeford said he tried to tell the van’s driver multiple times to move the vehicle but the man “would not reply.” Then, according to Raeford, the man “put his vehicle in drive and drove in his direction” — and he thought the man “was attempting to run him over and that was why he shot.”

The suspect went on, saying “he was aiming for the driver seat but shot toward the front passenger seat.” Afterward, he drove off to his parent’s home because he was afraid of possible “retaliation,” and he “hid his black Taurus G3 9mm with a green laser on it inside his father[‘]s golf bag inside the garage.” Officers later recovered the gun.

The white van was then searched. Six bullet holes were located — with one “found entering through the back of the front passenger seat where it traveled into the lower back” of the child, the affidavit states. It then adds:

“The trajectory of the bullets are consistent with Raeford shooting his firearm as the van passed his location and the last bullet hole is consistent with Raeford shooting the van as it was completely past where he was standing.”

Court records show Raeford had a first appearance in court on Tuesday. He is being held on a $500,000 secured bond and is next expected in court on Nov. 5.