North Carolina Boy, 5, Killed By His Neighbor Of Eight Years
Austin Hinnant is mourning the loss of his five-year-son Cannon, who was recently shot and killed under mysterious circumstances by his neighbor.
On August 9, the young child was riding his bike in front of his father’s North Carolina home with his two sisters when suspect and neighbor Darius Sessoms walked up to him and shot him in the head.
CNN reports that Austin was inside his home when he heard the gunshots. “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.”
Austin says he cradled his son and pleaded for help. “I screamed, ‘Somebody, please help me save my son! Help me save my son, please,'” he told WRAL.
Sessoms was reportedly standing in the next door yard with a gun in his hand, pacing and frantic. Austin says he was filled with rage as he looked at Sessoms but couldn’t leave his son’s side.
“[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 said.
Austin claims the his family didn’t have any issues with Sessoms and even had dinner together the previous evening.
“There wasn’t anything between me and him, any bad blood whatsoever, for him to have a reason to do this,” Hinnant said.
Police have not released information on a motive in the crime and Cannon’s father says he doesn’t understand why Sessoms allegedly shot his son.
