Seven-year-old Harmony Warfield’s life was tragically cut short on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, when the female child was fatally shot inside a Nashville, Tennessee, apartment in the J.C. Napier housing development. A rising second-grader at Purpose Preparatory Academy, Harmony was remembered for her perpetual smile and love of learning. She was in the apartment with her aunt and three other children, her cousins aged 14, 11, and two.
The devastating incident occurred when her 2-year-old
cousin found a loaded pistol and it discharged, with the bullet striking Harmony in the head. She was immediately transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center but ultimately succumbed to her injuries. The gun, which was initially missing from the scene, was later located by police.
A man named Anthony P. Sanders, then 27 years old and a friend of the aunt, was present in the apartment at the time of the shooting. Witnesses reported that after hearing the gunshot and seeing Harmony on the floor, Sanders grabbed the firearm and fled the apartment, stating he could not go back to prison. Authorities quickly identified him as a person of interest.
Sanders, a convicted felon with a prior kidnapping conviction, was later apprehended. He was federally charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. In November 2017, Anthony Patrick Sanders pleaded guilty to the charge. He was subsequently sentenced to the maximum of ten years in federal prison for his illegal possession of the firearm that led to the accidental death of the young girl.
