Gunman gets 99 years for killing Fort Worth boy

A 24-year-old man who killed a 12-year-old boy while gunning for the boy’s teenage cousin was sentenced Thursday to 99 years in prison.

Daniel Anderson of Fort Worth was convicted of murder earlier in the week.

James Hardemon, 12, was shot in the head on the night of June 1, 2013, as gunmen sprayed bullets at a house in the 4400 block of Eastover Avenue. The Dunbar Middle School student died a few days later.

Anderson was one of the gunmen. Hardemon’s 17-year-old cousin was the target because Anderson thought the teen had pulled a gun on him hours earlier, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

No one else has been arrested, prosecutors said.

The affidavit said that on the night of the slaying, Anderson and three people described as “kinfolks” piled into a car and drove to the house on Eastover Avenue. They were armed with an assault rifle and handguns. Their car was followed by a sport utility vehicle occupied by two other men whom Anderson knew.

Anderson told a witness that as they drove up to the house, he saw a “light skinned black male with long hair” standing in the doorway. Anderson told the witness that he and a companion got out of the car and “sprayed the trigger,” according to the affidavit.

“I heard brakes, then shooting started,” Hardemon’s cousin told the Star-Telegram in an interview after the shooting. He is not being identified because he fears retaliation because the other people involved have not been arrested.

“James was standing in the driveway. The car pulled away and I saw James just down on the driveway,” the cousin said.

Hardemon was standing in his driveway listening to Chief Keef on his smartphone with a pair of ear buds when he was shot, authorities said.

This report includes information from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published February 19, 2015 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Gunman gets 99 years for killing Fort Worth boy."