A man painted a street mural that reads “Cannon’s Life Matters” in North Carolina as a tribute for Cannon Hinnant, who was shot and killed in front of his siblings on Aug. 9.
“I just wanted everybody to have something to see,” the man, identified by his last name, Tulloch, told ABC11. He added that the mural is nothing more than a tribute to 5-year-old Cannon from Wilson, North Carolina.
Tulloch did not want to make the street name of the mural in Lee County public due to the fear of public scrutiny, he told the outlet. Right now, it is still in the first phase, but Tulloch is planning to finish it with colored paint in the days to come.
The street mural was painted as a remembrance for Cannon one day after the boy was laid to rest in a funeral on Aug. 13.
Police charged the boy’s neighbor, 25-year-old Darius Sessoms, with first-degree murder. He is currently being held without bond for allegedly shooting the boy in the head at point-blank range in what was described as an execution-style murder.
The boy’s mother, Bonny Waddell, told WSOC-TV she will pursue the death penalty for Sessoms, which is a legal penalty in North Carolina.
Waddell, after describing her son’s warm personality, said that “we lost a big piece of our family” following the death of Cannon. “He changed all of our lives. He touched everybody that he knew,” she added.
A GoFundMe for the family was set up by the boy’s grandmother last week and has since raised more than $760,000.
“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,” the page reads.
According to reports, others, including the boy’s two sisters, aged 7 and 8, witnessed the incident.
Cannon’s father, Austin Hinnant, said Sessoms had been a neighbor for about eight years and he never experienced any problems with the alleged killer. He added that he’d had him over for dinner the day before the shooting.
“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 revealed a motive in the slaying. Hinnant also said he’s not sure why the boy was killed.
The Associated Press and Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
