PUBLIC SAFETY

9-year-old boy fatally shot in Cumberland

Michael Anthony Adams, and Kara Berg
IndyStar
A woman cries out as a man collapses behind her at the scene where a 9-year-old boy was fatally shot May 27 in Cumberland.

A 9-year-old boy was fatally shot in the head Friday afternoon in Cumberland, police said.

Cumberland police officers responded to the 500 block of Wickerwood Drive, in the Berkshire Square apartments complex, on a report of a person shot about 3:45 p.m. When they arrived at the apartment, officers found a 9-year-old boy, later identified as Anthony Harmon Jr., who had been shot in the face.

Anthony was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police would not say under what circumstances the boy was shot but did confirm they were not looking for a suspect. It's also unclear whether police have found the weapon that was used.

Several people were inside the apartment where the boy was shot, police said. No other injuries were reported.

Ruby Hickman was upstairs in her apartment when she heard the gunshot from next door. Her brother Eric dismissed it as being from the TV, but then she heard someone banging on the door.

It was the kind of banging, she said, that meant something terrible had happened.

It was a teenage girl who said she had been in the apartment with the 9-year-old victim.

Hickman ran next door.

She started CPR on the boy, but it was too late.

Hickman called 911 and tried to keep all of the other kids in the apartment calm. But they were running around, crying and screaming.

Hickman said the teenage girl told her she was upstairs and ran down and saw the 9-year-old on the floor.

"(His family) was devastated," Hickman said. "They were shaken up, there's no doubt about that."

Hickman was shaken up, too.

"It's just a horrible, horrible situation," she said.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

Call IndyStar reporter Michael Anthony Adams at (317) 444-6123. Follow him on Twitter: @michaeladams317.

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