Father of 5-year-old fatally shot says suspect had dinner with him the night before killing
The father of the 5-year-old who was shot and killed while riding his bike in North Carolina last week is speaking out about the tragic incident.
Cannon Hinnant was killed while he was playing with his two sisters in Wilson last weekend. On Thursday, before going to his son’s funeral, Austin Hinnant shared his story with local NBC-affiliated television station WRAL-TV.
His son was with his 8- and 7-year-old sisters “playing in the yard like any other day,” when he heard a gunshot around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
“The first thing that went through my mind was maybe he just fell off his bike,” he said. “The closer I got to him, the more I realized it was something far more serious.”
The young boy died after he was taken to the Wilson Medical Center, according to officials.
On Monday, 25-year-old Darrius Sessoms was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
The father told WRAL-TV that the suspect has been his neighbor for eight years. The night before the murder, Hinnant said he even had him over for dinner.
"The Lord says to love our neighbor. I have plenty of food to go around. I just wanted to be nice," he said, adding that Sessoms sat on his porch and drank beer with him.
Police haven’t released any details regarding a possible motive for the shooting, and Hinnant can’t think of one.
“There wasn’t anything between me and him, any bad blood whatsoever, for him to have a reason to do this,” he said.
The local ABC-affiliated station WTVD-TV reported that more than 100 cars filled the parking lot of the funeral home to where the boy was taken Thursday evening.
Friends and family honored the young boy’s life expressing disbelief at such tragedy.
“He meant the world to me, just like all the other kids that are mine I helped raise,” Lee Parker, Cannon’s stepfather, said, adding that his Cannon was “a loving little boy, loved everything, loved everybody.”
“It’ll never be behind us. He’ll always be with us, but we’re going to get through it,” he said.
“Everybody just loved Cannon. He lit up the room,” said his father.
