AMERICA—A five-year-old boy has been shot and killed by a neighbor, while playing with his two older sisters in the front yard of his home in Wilson, North Carolina on Sunday, August 9, according to those who witnessed the murder.
Darius N. Sessoms, a 25-year-old native of Wilson, has been charged with the first-degree murder of Cannon Hinnant, who was shot in the head in front of his siblings at 5:30 p.m. on August 9. He was pronounced dead after being taken to a nearby hospital.
Following the shooting, the suspect ended up fleeing the scene on foot, eventually being apprehended in Goldsboro by U.S. Marshals, local police and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, who took him into custody, where he was held without bond in the Wilson County jail.
Doris Lybrand, who lives in one of the neighboring homes nearby, was shocked by what she had witnessed. “My first reaction was he’s playing with the kids. For a second, I thought, ‘That couldn’t happen.’ People don’t run across the street and kill kids.”
After realizing the gun was real, and seeing what had happened to the young boy, Lybrand ran back into her home, locked all of the doors, and immediately called 911.
The home Cannon was playing in front of belongs to his father, who is Sessoms’ next door neighbor. In fact, the night before, Cannon’s father had invited Sessoms’ over for dinner, with both reportedly parting ways on good terms.
Police have not established a motive or reasoning for the crime, but do not believe it was a random act.
While Cannon’s grandmother has said that the family is pleased with Sessom being caught, the murder has been devastating for everyone involved, as they still try to understand why it happened.
