The suspect turned himself in to Florida police Thursday, authorities said.
A North Carolina man allegedly shot a 6-year-old girl, her parents and an additional neighbor after a basketball rolled into his yard.
The suspect, Robert Louis Singletary, 24, turned himself in Thursday to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Tampa, Florida, the Gaston County Police Department said.
The Gaston County Police Department received a 911 call at 7:44 pm on Tuesday about a local shooting. Investigators later determined that Singletary seriously injured an adult man and a young woman, and a separate woman was hit by a bullet while a second adult man was shot.
The police identified the three adult victims as William James White, Ashley Hildebrand and Derrick Kenneth Prather, all from Gastonia. White suffered a gunshot wound and remains in serious condition, police said. Hildebrand suffered a serious gunshot wound, and Prather was shot but not hit, police said. The 6-year-old, whose name will not be released, also sustained a gunshot wound, according to the police.
Neighbors told ABC News’ Charlotte affiliate WSOC that the shooting started after a basketball rolled into Singletary’s yard from a group of local kids playing basketball down the street. Singletary allegedly fired a gun at a neighbor before approaching the father and son — William and 6-year-old Kinsley White. Both were taken to a local area hospital for treatment.
“Why did you shoot my dad? Why did you shoot a child’s dad?” Kinsley asked in an emotional interview, stitches visible on his cheek from the bullet fragments that struck him.
Family members say William White tried to shoot himself to protect his family while Singletary unloaded the entire magazine onto his neighbor. White was shot in his own backyard, 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.
Gaston County police have multiple warrants for Singletary’s arrest. He was 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.
Singletary is expected to appear in a Florida court on Friday regarding his extradition back to North Carolina, police said.
In December, Singletary was separately accused of attacking his girlfriend with a mini sledgehammer, causing her to bleed 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 cleaned up all evidence from the assault,” a press release from December read.
“I want to say to the people of Gaston County – this type of violence will not stand,” said Chief of the Gaston County Police Department, Stephen M. Zill.
The North Carolina shooting follows a string of similar incidents where seemingly ordinary mistakes have led to serious consequences involving firearms. Last week, two Texas cheerleaders were shot after getting into the wrong car in a parking lot, a New York girl died after getting into the wrong lane, and a 16-year-old in Missouri was shot after ringing the doorbell. in the wrong house.
