#Parents of slain 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant want death penalty for suspect

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Darius Sessoms, Cannon Hinnant
Wilson Police Department/Handout

The parents of the 5-year-old boy allegedly shot in the head by a neighbor in North Carolina want their son’s killer to get the death penalty.

Parents Bonny Waddell and Austin Hinnant said they want justice for little Cannon Hinnant, who was gunned down on Aug. 9 while riding his bicycle outside his dad’s house in the city of Wilson.

“My baby didn’t deserve this,” the grieving mom told CBS-affiliate KCTV.

“I want the death penalty and I’m going to seek it.”

Police allege Darius Sessoms, who has lived next door to Cannon’s dad for eight years, walked up to the child while he was playing outside with his sisters and shot him point-blank in the head.

The girls, ages 7 and 8, “know [their brother] is in a better place” but are devastated, said Waddell.

“This man took my girls when he took my baby,” she said.

A motive for the boy’s senseless murder has yet to be released by cops.

Dad Austin Hinnant said he and his son’s accused killer were on good terms and even had dinner and drinks the night before the murder.

“There wasn’t anything between me and him, any bad blood whatsoever, for him to have a reason to do this,” Hinnant said.

Sessoms, 25, is being held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder.

First-degree murder is punishable by death in North Carolina under certain circumstances, such as if the felony in question is “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel,” according to state law.