Robert Louis Singletary, Gaston County, N.C man on the run after shooting at family and another neighbor after a basketball rolled into his yard.
Gun violence is the new American epidemic… North Carolina authorities are seeking the whereabouts of a Gaston County man, after he shot at a 6 year old girl and her parents along with another neighbor after a basketball rolled into his yard.
Kinsley White was wounded along with her mother Ashley Hilderbrand and father William White when local Gastonia man, Robert Louis Singletary opened fire at around 8 p.m, Wednesday night after becoming enraged about the bouncing ball, WSOC-TV reported.
White was critically injured attempting to protect his daughter.
Neighbors said a group of children were playing basketball when the ball bounced into the alleged gunman’s yard.
Singletary grew angry and ran down the street as he fired at a neighbor, shocked neighbours said.
‘Why did you shoot my daddy and me?
The man then came back and began shooting at the family, including the young daughter who needed stitches on her face from bullet fragments, WSOC-TV reported.
Her father was also hit, and is still in the hospital Wednesday, police said.
He reportedly tried to draw gunfire toward him to keep his kids safe before he was struck in the back.
‘We don’t even know the man,’ the 6 year old told the station, adding. ‘Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?’
Hilderbrand was grazed by a bullet and is recovering at home with her daughter, WSOC-TV reported.
Neighbors said Singletary kept shooting until he was out of bullets.
‘He looked at my husband and my daughter and told them, ‘I’m going to kill you,’’ Hilderbrand said.
Previous history of aggression as gun violence becomes the new go to remedy
Authorities said Singletary, 24, is still on the run and remains wanted.
He’s been charged with four counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, Gaston County police said.
Robert Singletary was also charged with assaulting his girlfriend with a sledgehammer in December, ABC News reported.
That incident led to the victim bleeding profusely from the back of the head and forced against her will inside an apartment for two hours.
The department is seeking the public’s help in locating and arresting the fugitive, offering a $1,000 reward.
‘I want to say to the people of Gaston County – this sort of violence will not stand,’ Police Chief Stephen Zill said in a statement, noting the US Marshals are not involved in the search for Singletary.
The Gaston shooting episode follows a string of similar incidents across the U.S where seemingly ordinary mistakes have led to serious consequences involving firearms. Over the last week, two cheerleaders in Texas were shot after entering the wrong car in a parking lot, a woman in upstate New York was killed after entering the wrong driveway and 16-year-old in Missouri was shot after ringing the doorbell to the wrong home.
