A father in Raleigh, North Carolina, is grieving the loss of his only child, Cayden Alston-Arnold, who was shot and killed at his home, allegedly by teen boys he and his family believed were his friends. It has to be so hard to know the people likely responsible for your child’s death, especially when they had a sort of friendship. His father is speaking out about the pain of losing the teen, who still had so much life left to live. He also claimed that he knew the reason his son was killed was because of clothing he was trying to sell his alleged killers.
There is nothing that will bring the boy back, but the father knows violence isn’t the way forward for anyone.
The incident took place in broad daylight.
Officers from the Raleigh Police Department responded to a shooting around 11:50 a.m. on March 20, 2026, WRAL reported. They found a teenage boy, later identified as Cayden, with a gunshot wound.
His father, Courtney Alston, spoke with the outlet, saying he wasn’t home when his son was shot. The boy’s aunt, however, was on the scene, and they believed the 15-year-old boy would survive.
“My sister called me and told that Cayden had been shot. She was like, she thinks he’s OK because he told her, ‘Auntie, I’m going to be good, I’m good,’” Alston said, per WRAL.
But when he got home, he knew that his son wasn’t OK. “From that blood that I’ve seen everywhere, he was running round the house trying to clean up the blood, like, he panicked,” the grieving father explained. The boy was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
The boys who shot him were people Cayden knew.
“It just hurts. I just can’t believe it. I wish I would’ve been there to help him,” the dad said. According to Alston, doctors were able to “sew his heart back up, but it just didn’t start beating.”
Police said a juvenile was taken into custody after the shooting, WRAL reported. Authorities have not given any additional details about a suspect or the juvenile in custody, likely because of being a minor. Alston, however, believes they came to his home when his son wasn’t expecting them, adding “they were supposed to be friends.”
“He didn’t talk to them,” Alston said of the time before the shooting. “I really thought they were his friends. I would have never allowed those boys in the house if I would’ve known they weren’t his friends.”
The father thinks he knows what led to his son’s death.
Alston also spoke with WTVD about his son’s killing, telling the outlet Cayden wasn’t supposed to have anyone in the house because he was being punished.
According to the father, Cayden was trying to sell the boys a pair of jeans, but when they refused to pay, he refused to hand them over. He believes his refusal is what ultimately led to his death.
Alston reviewed Ring doorbell camera footage from the day and noticed that the boys were acting strangely beforehand. “I could tell by the way they were acting, they were a little bit kind of adamant about getting in,” he said, per WTVD. “They was going around to the back of the house … asking which one was his window.”
Based on the timestamps from the camera, the whole incident happened in about 15 minutes. According to Alston, the boys arrived around 11:36 a.m., and police were there by 11:51 a.m.
The father said his son’s blood was in the “bathroom, the closet door, the kitchen. Everywhere,” per WTVD He added that he will miss “everything” about his only child.
Alston started a GoFundMe account to raise money to give his son a proper funeral. “I just want to let the youth know, leave the guns alone,” the father pleaded on WTVD. It’s raised $8,000 thus far.
According to the outlet, a juvenile petition has been filed against the teen accused of killing Cayden.
