GASTONIA, N.C. – A 6-year-old girl and her parents were shot by a North Carolina man when children went to retrieve a basketball that had rolled into his yard, according to neighbors and the girl’s family.
Gaston County Police Chief Stephen Zill announced at a press conference on Wednesday that the U.S. Marshals Service’s Regional Fugitive Task Force and his department were conducting a wide-ranging search for Robert Louis Singletary, a 24-year-old man who fled after the shooting on Tuesday night in the vicinity of Gastonia.
Singletary, who had previously been charged with assaulting a woman with a hammer, is currently out on bail. He is wanted in connection with the shootings and is being charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
As of Thursday, Singletary was still at large.
According to neighbor Jonathan Robertson, the attack occurred after neighborhood children went to retrieve a basketball that had rolled into Singletary’s yard. Singletary yelled at the children on several occasions since moving to the neighborhood.
After retrieving the basketball, he went inside his house and returned with a gun, shooting as parents attempted to protect their children. Kinsley White, a 6-year-old girl, was shot in the cheek but survived and was released after receiving hospital treatment.
Her father, Jamie White, who was shot in the back while rushing to her aid, was hospitalized with serious injuries, including liver damage.
Ashley Hilderbrand, the girl’s mother, was grazed on the elbow, and Singletary also fired at another man but missed.
