KING WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Heartbroken parents are desperately searching for answers after their 8-year-old son was killed in his sleep by an armed intruder inside their home in King William County.
Orlando Anderson Jr. died at VCU Medical Center on Tuesday after a gunman kicked in the front door to his family’s home on Robin Lane and opened fire. Anderson, who was sleeping, was struck by at least one of the bullets that ripped through his family’s home late Monday night.
“Ya’ll robbed me of that, and ya’ll just don’t know how that feels,” the young boy’s crying father told 8News.
“Somebody took my son from me.”
State Police said the unknown shooter fled the area shortly before midnight.
At the time of the shooting, the boy was with his father and grandmother, who were not injured in the shooting.
“It scared me, but I scared him away,” Anderson Sr. said of the gunman. “I didn’t know he was hit until my mother said it.”
The heartbroken parents said their son had an infectious smile and loved to dance, as well as the Dallas Cowboys, fishing and Steph Curry.
“My son is not here anymore and you don’t know what it feels like until you go through it,” the child’s mother, Alexis Mines, said. “You might see it on TV every day, but when it hits home, its way worse than what you see.”
Anderson Sr. added, “we had so much we wanted to do, and somebody just took that away from me and robbed it from us.”
Now, the parents are asking anyone with information to come forward.
“If anybody knows anything, can you please come and let the police know?” Mines pleaded.
Click here to visit a GoFundMe page that has been created for the boy’s family.
A candlelight vigil will be held for Anderson Jr. on Saturday, Jan. 26 at Acquinton Elementary School in King William County, where the boy attended third grade. Attendees are asked to bring blue and silver balloons to celebrate his love for the Dallas Cowboys.
King William County Public Schools said additional counselors will be available for all students and staff at Acquinton Elementary.