A New Jersey county official has arrested an officer at a youth center over what he described as a racist Facebook post about the fatal shooting of a 5-year-old in North Carolina.
The officer, Rome Smith, wrote last week that Cannon Hinnant, who was killed on Saturday, August 9 while playing with his sisters in the front door, “must be ducked,” according to screenshots of the peal shared online.
“You’re always trying to discipline a discipline and innocently murder a black person by cops. Blame parents of cannon for not seeing him !!! F Y’ALL,” Smith wrote after all.
Smith, who is black, is an officer at the Juvenile Detention Center in Cumberland County. A provincial spokeswoman, Jody Hirata, confirmed to NBC News that Smith is a provincial employee and was kicked out of the post.
Attempts to reach him on Tuesday were unsuccessful. His Facebook account appears to have been disabled.
In a statement that did not identify Smith by name, Cumberland County officials condemned the post as “shockingly insensitive and racist in tone” and said it had since been dropped.
“We will not tolerate collaborators who use social media to send hateful messages,” said Cumberland County Director Derrick Joseph Derella. “This is not who we are and we aim to pursue the strongest action available to us.”
Witnesses said police fired Cannon on his bike in the driveway of his family’s home in Wilson when a neighbor walked up to him and shot him in the head, according to NBC branch WRAL of Raleigh, North Carolina.
The neighbor, identified by police as Darius Nathaniel Sessoms, 25, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Cannon’s death. Cannon was white and Sessoms is black.
Cannon’s father, Austin Hinnant, told The Wilson Times that he and Sessoms were not friends, but that they were friendly and that he was always involved with Sessoms’ parents, who lived next door to her.
Sessoms’ parents said they believed their son was addicted to drugs and had hallucinations at the time of the shooting, The Associated Press reported.
The night before the murder, Hinnant said he and Sessoms shared a beer in the front room.
“I have no idea why he would kill my son for his two sisters and his cousin,” HinnantWRAL said. “There was never anything between me and him, some bad blood for him to have a reason to do so.”
Police have not said what provoked the brutal murder. Sessoms made his first appearance in court on Monday. He did not speak during the brief hearing, The Wilson Times reported. He is being held without restraint at the Wilson County Detention Center and has no attorney.
Hinnant said he is disturbed by social media posts that falsely suggest race was a factor in Cannon’s death.
“This is not a race issue,” Hinnant told The Wilson Times.
He said he prays for those who make negative comments online and that his son loves everyone he meets.
“It didn’t matter what color, male or female, he had just that love and joy in his heart,” Hinnant said. “He loves everyone.”
In a Facebook post, Cannon’s mother, Bonny Waddell, urged people not to compare the murder of her son to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck.
“IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH RIGHT AND DO NOT COMPARE IT TOO FLOOD!” she wrote. “MY SWEET CANNON NEVER SAYS COLOR, HE ELSEAR EVERY CHILD. HE WAS INNOCENT, LOVING … AND THIS CRUEL MAN TO HIM AWAY FROM US FOR NO RASON.”
