Cannon Hinnant, a 5-year-old White boy from North Carolina who was brutally murdered by his Black male neighbor, was shot in the head point-blank while riding his bicycle in a case that has received almost zero national media attention. Despite the dramatic death of the boy, many are pointing out that the race of the victim and the perpetrator may be a big factor why major news outlets have ignored the story.
Mainstream news networks ABC, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, along major national news outlets like the New York Times, NPR, the Washington Post, Newsweek, and Time have not run a single story about the case, sparking outrage about the story’s omission {Update: CNN printed a news blurb on Aug. 14 about Hinnant after days of pressure for the outlet to cover the murder).
One tweet on the topic from Matt Walsh has received 41,000 likes.
The national media’s blackout of the Cannon Hinnant story is breathtaking. It’s possibly the most heinous murder in memory — a child executed at point blank range while riding his bike in his dad’s yard — and the national media has said nothing. Seriously, nothing. Incredible.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 12, 2020
Jason Howerton, an editor at the Blaze, shared search results on Twitter showing he was not able to find a single mention of the boy’s name on the websites of the biggest news outlets in the US.
Cannon Hinnant
Say his name.@CNN @NBCNews @CBSNews @ABC pic.twitter.com/fDn9c9fYjB
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) August 12, 2020
Hinnant was shot and killed by 25-year-old felon Darius Nathaniel Sessoms while he was riding his bicycle in Wilson, North Carolina. The boy was reportedly killed after he rode his bike on to Sessoms’ property located on Archers Road.
The execution of Hinnant was witnessed by his two 7-year-old and 8-year-old sisters, their mother told local news station WRAL.
Doris Labrant, a neighbor on the block who witnessed the boy’s death, said, “I saw him just run right up to him and [he] put the gun right up to his head and shot him.”
The British new outlet, Daily Mail, was one of the first major publications to report on it, but the story has received little coverage from any mainstream outlets in the US with the exception of Fox News. Only local affiliates like WRAL and ABC11 have picked up the story in the US.
There are many pointing to the fact that if the races had been reversed, the news would have most certainly made national headlines.
Darius Sessoms—a black man, went up to Cannon Hinnant, a 5 year old white boy and murdered him in cold blood in front of his 2 young sisters
If the races were reversed it would be national news
The activist media is ignoring this because it doesn’t fit their narrative
Sick.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 12, 2020
Police are still working to determine a motive for the killing, but neighbors say they are shocked that Sessoms would murder the boy.
“Sessoms lives next door to Cannon’s father, and a neighbor said that the two men had dinner together Saturday night and that Sessoms was at his neighbor’s home earlier Sunday,” according to WRAL.
U.S. Marshals Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, and Goldsboro police apprehended Sessoms who has been charged with first-degree murder.
Sessoms is no stranger to the police, and his criminal record includes a range of felonies such as larceny of firearms, a misdemeanor for maintaining a place for a controlled substance and felony possession of marijuana. Sessoms also has two pending felony counts for maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance.
A fundraiser for Hinnant’s family has already raised over $100,000.
“Sunday, August 9, 2020 a sweet soul named Cannon Hinnant was taken from this world over a senseless act,” the GoFundMe for Hinnant reads.
“A beautiful 5 year old baby boy riding his bicycle was shot by his neighbor point blank in Wilson NC. One minute he is enjoying his life, the next it all ends because he rode into his neighbors yard.”
Justice for Cannon fundraiser has crowdfunded over $100,000 https://t.co/NsE1eggvAX
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) August 13, 2020
“He was just a loving kid,” his mother, Bonny Waddell, said to the local paper, the Wilson Times. “He had the biggest heart.”
Hinnant was set to begin attending Kindergarten the following week and had just learned how to write, according to the Daily Mail.
Despite the blackout in coverage on Hinnant’s case at many of the nation’s major news networks, the murder has received substantial coverage on social media.
Right now millions of people, maybe tens-of-millions, are asking why the national press refuses to report on Cannon Hinnant.
And the media wonders why their “debunks” and “fact checks” don’t work anymore.
We see you fuckers in real time covering up huge stories.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 13, 2020
Daniel Horowitz, of the Conservative Review, also pointed to race as being a factor in Hinnant’s case. Horowitz asks why race was such a central issue in the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis, but the death of Hinnant has received virtually no coverage in the national media. Although there was no evidence that the police officer, Derek Chauvin, had any racial animus, race was portrayed as the motivating factor in Floyd’s death.
“In the new America that is driven by racial politics rather than justice, what do you think would happen if a white man killed a 5-year-old black boy on his bike execution-style, regardless of racial motivations?” asks Horowitz.
