Tragedy has struck a small North Carolina town after a violent shooting left one 6–year–old girl and three adults injured.
Robert Louis Singletary, 24, is wanted in connection with the shooting that occurred on Tuesday evening. According to the Gaston County Police Department, officers responded to a 911 call at 7:44 p.m. about a local shooting.
Witnesses said the shooting began after 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 son, William and 6–year–old Kinsley White. Both were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Kinsley and her father were the most seriously injured. Kinsley was shot in the face and was reportedly asking, “Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?”
The Gaston County Police Department has several warrants out for Singletary‘s arrest, charging him 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.
The incident occurred only a week after two cheerleaders in Texas were shot after mistakenly 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 the wrong home.
“I want to say to the people of Gaston County—this sort of violence will not stand,” said Gaston County Police Department’s Chief Stephen M. Zill.
Singletary was previously charged with assaulting his girlfriend with a sledgehammer in December, which left her bleeding profusely from the back of the head and forced her inside an apartment for two hours.
The U.S. Marshall’s Regional Fugitive Task Force is now searching for Singletary, who remains at large.
“We’re hoping that we can get him off the street before he does any more harm,” said Zill.
The incident is a stark reminder of the dangers of gun violence and the importance of gun safety. It is yet another example of a life–altering mistake that occurred in an instant and has left an entire community in shock.
