A white five-year-old boy was shot in the head and killed in broad daylight in a North Carolina neighborhood after it was alleged that he had ridden his bike into a neighbor’s yard.
Cannon Hinnant, 5, was riding his bike with his sisters in a Wilson, NC, neighborhood on a summer’s day, outside his father’s house, when his young life was cut short.
Hinnant, according to family members, rode his bike onto the neighbor’s yard, prompting Darius N. Sessoms, 25, to shoot him in the head at point blank range. His sisters, 7 and 8, saw their brother get shot.
“[On] Sunday, August 9, 2020 a sweet soul named Cannon Hinnant was taken from this world over a senseless act,” a Go Fund Me post for the family read. “A beautiful 5 year old baby boy riding his bicycle was shot by his neighbor point blank in Wilson NC.”
“One minute he is enjoying his life, the next it all ends because he rode into his neighbors yard.. 5 years old guys!!” The post added. “Nothing prepares a parent for the loss of their child. No child should ever have their future stolen from them. As of now the person involved is still hiding like the coward he is. Prayers that he is found soon and justice can begin.”
Eyewitness Doris Labrant said that Sessoms ran out of his house, pointed the gun at the boy’s head, fired, then ran back inside.
“My first reaction was he’s playing with the kids,” Labrant recalled. “For a second, I thought, ‘That couldn’t happen.’ People don’t run across the street and kill kids.”
Officers and Wilson County EMS medics treated the young boy for a gunshot wound to the head, but later died at Wilson Medical Center, reported Wake Weekly.
Sessoms had reportedly dined with Hinnant’s father over the weekend, according to a neighbor, per WRAL.
Wilson Police Department officers and members of the US Marshals’ Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force picked up Sessoms around 4:30 p.m. the following day at a Goldsboro home.
Sessoms is facing a first-degree murder charge and held without bond.
“The Wilson Police Department sends its sincerest condolences and prayers to the family of Cannon during this tragic time,” Capt. Steve Stroud said in a press release.
