WILSON, N.C. (NewsNation/WNCN) — An online fundraising effort in the memory of a 5-year-old North Carolina boy who was shot and killed has raised more than $600,000 in less than a week.
Police say 25-year-old Darrius Sessoms shot Cannon Hinnant in the head while the boy was riding his bike late Sunday afternoon.
Sessoms, who is the Hinnants’ neighbor, is charged with murder, according to police.
A GoFundMe page was created Wednesday by Cannon’s grandmother, Gwen Hinnant.
“This family has faced unimaginable pain because of this senseless act of violence,” Hinnant wrote on the fundraising page.
The fundraiser had a goal of $5,000 to pay for funeral services but had raised more than $600,000 by Saturday afternoon.
Hinnant said Cannon was just “doing what he would do any other day” when the shooting happened.
Family members said the little boy loved his bike and his two sisters.
“Just a kid trying to have fun in his own yard and something like this happens. It’s despicable,” Merrill Race, Cannon’s great grandfather.
“He just loved everything. Everybody,” Lee Parker, Cannon’s stepfather said. “I could sit here for days, I just … there are no words or no amount of money that’s going to bring him back.”
Hundreds were in attendance at Shingleton Funeral Home in Wilson Thursday to pay their respects to Cannon.
A community vigil that was planned for Friday evening has been postponed at the family’s request. They said they hope to hold some kind of gathering in about two weeks.