Cannon Hinnant: Shooter paced frantically with gun as five-year-old's shocked dad tried in vain to save son
WILSON, NORTH CAROLINA: The father of a five-year-old boy who was shot and killed as he was riding a bike has revealed that the killer was still frantically pacing nearby with the gun in his hand as he desperately tried to save his son.
The shocking murder of Cannon Hinnant on August 9 has caught national headlines, with the young boy reportedly shot in the head by neighbor Darius Sessums, 25, without any provocation. Cannon's two young sisters, aged just seven and eight, witnessed the horrific incident.
Cannon's father, Austin Hinnant, was inside the house when he heard a shot ring outside, where the young boy was playing on his bike. He told WRAL that it took some time for him to register what had just transpired. "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."
When Hinnant rushed outside, he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Cannon had been shot in the head and was bleeding out. The culprit, Sessums, was still closeby but not doing anything to help despite the father's pleas. "I screamed, 'Somebody, please help me save my son! Help me save my son, please,'" he said.
"I was looking at him as I was picking up Cannon. I was so full of rage, but I couldn’t leave my son’s side. I wanted to be with my son. [You] can't imagine what it's like to hold your son in your arms with a gunshot wound to the head, and his blood is running down your arms," he added.
Police and emergency personnel arrived at the home on Archers Road at around 5.30 pm on August 9 and transported Cannon to the Wilson Medical Center. But the young boy could not be saved and he was declared dead the same evening.
Doris Labrant, another neighbor, witnessed the entire incident unfold and said she couldn't process what had just happened either. "My first reaction was he's playing with the kids," she said. "For a second, I thought, 'That couldn't happen’. People don't run across the street and kill kids.' Austin ran out of that house screaming and picked him up. They'll never get over it. You don't expect to see somebody shoot someone. It's almost like seeing a movie and then all of a sudden it dawns on you it's not a movie."
Hinnant said he and Sessoms have never had any issues in eight years they had been neighbors and that the 25-year-old had even come over for dinner just a day before the shooting. He said they had both sat on the porch drinking beers. "There wasn't anything between me and him, any bad blood whatsoever, for him to have a reason to do this," he exclaimed.
After the shooting, Sessums fled from the scene but was tracked down a day later to a Goldsboro residence about 30 minutes south of Wilson. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and is being held with no bond.
A GoFundMe page set up for Cannon has raised more than $563,000. "On Sunday, August 9th, this precious angel was playing outside with his siblings when he was murdered. He was merely doing what he would do any other day and that’s playing with his sisters, riding his bike, doing what kids do and all of the innocence that comes with being a child. This family has faced unimaginable pain because of this senseless act of violence," a description read.