(GASTONIA, N.C.) — The 24-year-old man accused of shooting a 6-year-old girl, her parents and another neighbor after a basketball rolled into his yard in North Carolina is now in police custody.
Robert Singletary appeared in court on Friday and signed an extradition waiver. He turned himself in on Thursday to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Tampa, authorities said.
Neighbors told ABC News’ Charlotte affiliate WSOC-TV the shooting on Tuesday started when a basketball rolled into Singletary’s yard from a group of local children playing basketball in the street. Singletary allegedly fired a gun at a neighbor before approaching a father and daughter, William James White and 6-year-old Kinsley White, who were both seriously wounded.
One woman was grazed by a bullet and a second man was shot at but not injured, police said.
William White remains in serious condition, according to police.
“Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?” Kinsley asked in an emotional interview, stitches visible on her cheek from the bullet fragments that hit her.
Family members said William White tried to draw gunfire toward himself to protect his family as Singletary unloaded an entire magazine toward his neighbor. White was shot in the back in his own front yard, according to his partner, Ashley Hilderbrand.
“He looked at my husband and my daughter and told them, ‘I’m going to kill you,'” Hilderbrand said.
Singletary is charged with four counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
In December, Singletary was separately charged with assaulting his girlfriend with a mini sledgehammer, leading her to bleed profusely from the back of the head and forcing her inside an apartment for two hours.
“The victim further stated that Singletary told her that she could not leave until she had cleaned up all the evidence from the assault,” police said.
“I want to say to the people of Gaston County this sort of violence will not stand,” Gaston County Police chief, Stephen M. Zill, said.
The North Carolina shooting follows a string of similar incidents 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 New York was killed after entering the wrong driveway and a 16-year-old in Missouri was shot after ringing the doorbell to a wrong home.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
