Girl, 6, and parents shot after basketball rolls into neighbours garden
Police are hunting a North Carolina man who allegedly shot dead a six-year-old girl and her parents after a basketball rolled into his yard, police say.
Robert Louis Singletary, 24, is accused of shooting and injuring multiple people and police are describing him as “armed and dangerous” after violence broke out in Gastonia, North Carolina on Tuesday night.
Family members have identified the injured youth as Kinsley White, who was discharged from hospital overnight, according to Queen City News.
The boy’s father, William White, was also shot and wounded in the incident and her mother, Ashley Hilderbrand, was grazed by a bullet, WSOC-TV reported.
“We don’t even know the man,” Kinsley, who required stitches in his cheek for bullet fragments, told the TV network. “Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot the father of a child?”
Ms. Hilderbrand told the broadcaster that the suspect threatened the lives of her husband and daughter.
“He looked at my husband and daughter and told them, ‘I’m going to kill you,'” she said.
“Why did you shoot me? Why did you shoot my father?”
6-year-old Kinsley White has bullet shrapnel stitches in her cheek. @gastoncountypd say Robert Singletary is on the run after falling on April Dr. shot. Kinsley’s mother and father were also shot. Mom is at home. pic.twitter.com/QAhw6XcZ1W— Ken (@kenlemonWSOC9) April 19, 2023
Police say they don’t know if the suspect was on foot or in a car.
“Gaston County Police have issued warrants for the arrest of Robert Louis Singletary for his involvement in the shooting. Mr Singletary has been charged with 4 attempted first degree murder, 2 assaults with a deadly weapon with intent to cause serious injury and 1 count of possession of a firearm by a criminal. Mr. Singletary remains at large,” Gaston County Police said
The suspect is described as being 6 feet 2 inches tall with brown eyes and black hair. He weighs about 223 pounds.
