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A 25-year-old man from North Carolina, USA, fatally shot his 5-year-old neighbor in the head at point-blank range in front of his family for no apparent reason.
Darius Sessoms has since been arrested and was charged with first-degree murder, as per NBC-affiliate WRAL-TV on Aug. 9. He is currently being held without bond at the Wilson County jail.
The victim, Cannon Hinnant, was said to have been playing just outside his father’s house with his sisters, aged 7 and 8, when Sessoms ran up to the child, aimed the gun at his head and fired a shot.
“My first reaction was he’s playing with the kids,” witness Doris Lybrand told the television station. “For a second, I thought, ‘That couldn’t happen.’ People don’t run across the street and kill kids.”
Lybrand said she only realized that Sessoms had fired an actual gun when she saw the reaction of Hinnant’s father. She then quickly locked the door and called 911.
Police believe that the shooting was not random, although no details on the possible motive of the shooting have been given as of this writing.
A neighbor disclosed that before the shooting occurred, Sessoms—who lived next door to the Hinnants—had dinner together with the boy’s father last Saturday, Aug. 8, and that Sessoms was at the neighbor’s house the next day, which was the day of the shooting.
Sessoms, who fled the scene after committing the horrendous crime, was arrested the following day, according to the report. Ian Biong /ra
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