Nashville Man Pleads Guilty In Shooting Of 7-Year-Old

NASHVILLE, TN — A Nashville man will spend 10 years in federal prison for his role in the shooting death of a 7-year-old girl in June.

Harmony Warfield was fatally wounded when her 2-year-old cousin fired a handgun inside an apartment south of downtown June 6.

Investigators said that Anthony Sanders had spent the night in the home and "was known to generally carry one or two firearms whenever he was in the J.C. Napier housing area," occasionally keeping them in home where Harmony was shot. After sleeping on the couch, Sanders woke up and went outside, witnesses told investigators, who said video surveillance corroborated those accounts. Soon thereafter, the gun was discharged by the 2-year-old, striking Harmony in the head. Witnesses said Sanders went back inside, saw Harmony laying on the kitchen floor, grabbed the gun and fled, saying he could not go back to prison.

Sanders was convicted of kidnapping in 2008 and was released from prison in June 2016.

A week after the shooting Sanders was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in contravention of federal law. He pleaded guilty to that charge in U.S. District Court Tuesday and under a plea agreement, will spend 10 years in prison.

Image via U.S. Attorney