Convicted Felon Pleads Guilty to Possessing Firearm Discharged by Juvenile after being Left Unattended

7-Year Old Harmony Warfield Shot in Head and Died From Injuries

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – November 8, 2017 – Anthony Patrick Sanders, 27, of Nashville, Tenn., pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to being a convicted felon in possession of  firearms, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee. 

Sanders was charged in a criminal complaint on June 14, 2017, after the accidental shooting death of 7-year old Harmony Warfield on June 6, 2017.  He was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 12, 2017.

“This is another tragic example of the unintended consequences that result when persons prohibited from carrying firearms choose to ignore the law,” said U.S. Attorney Cochran.  “Due to the reckless actions of a convicted felon, an innocent child lost her life.  This office and our law enforcement partners will continue to relentlessly pursue those individuals responsible for inflicting violence in our public housing communities and bring the appropriate federal charges and seek harsh prison sentences.  There is no parole in the federal system.”

According to court documents, in June 2016 Sanders was released from prison after being convicted of kidnapping in 2008.  In or around February 2017 Sanders began frequenting the J.C. Napier Housing Development in Nashville and regularly began selling heroin in the area.  Sanders was known to regularly carry a firearm when he was selling heroin in the area and he frequently stayed at 767 Lewis St.

Sanders stayed at the Lewis St. apartment on the night of June 5, 2017.  He awoke the following morning and went outside, leaving a loaded pistol within easy access of anyone inside the apartment.  Shortly thereafter, a juvenile in the apartment picked up the firearm and discharged the weapon, striking Harmony Warfield in the head and killing her.  Sanders then re-entered the apartment and found Harmony laying on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound to the head. He then retrieved the firearm and fled the area.  Court records indicate that three other children, ages 2, 11 and 14, were in the apartment when the incident occurred.

Sanders eventually fled to a community near Columbus, Ohio where he hid the firearm, which was later recovered by ATF agents.  It was also determined that Sanders had taken this firearm from an individual in May 2017, after a fight in the Cayce Homes public housing development in Nashville.   

The plea agreement calls for the Sanders to receive a 10 year prison sentence, if accepted by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger on March 2, 2018. 

This case was investigated by the ATF and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department-Youth Services Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunny A.M. Koshy is prosecuting the case.