Manhunt continues for man police say shot 6-year-old girl and her parents after ball rolled onto his lawn

A manhunt is underway for a suspect wanted for attempted murder and other charges after police said he shot a 6-year-old girl and her parents when a basketball rolled onto his lawn in North Carolina on Tuesday.

The Gaston County Police Department said 24-year-old Robert Singletary, of Gastonia, North Carolina, is wanted for four counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

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Police said at about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, officers were called to a neighborhood because of a man reportedly firing gunshots outside of his home. Investigators soon learned the alleged shooter was Singletary. Warrants were secured for his arrest overnight, but as of Thursday morning, Singletary is still at large.

Kinsley White was the 6-year-old who was shot, and her family members told Queen City News that the shooting happened because one of their neighbors, evidently Singletary, was upset that a basketball rolled onto his yard.

“He came out with a gun; he started shooting,” White said. “Hope my daddy is OK.”

The local news outlet said Kinsley’s father, William White, was shot multiple times while trying to protect his daughter, and witnesses said the gunman kept shooting even after he hit the ground.

In an update on Wednesday, police said one adult victim, presumably William, remains hospitalized, while Kinsley, who was hit, as well as a second adult who was grazed by a bullet, were treated and released. It is unclear where the fourth count of attempted first-degree murder stems from.

Kinsley was reportedly shot in the left side of her cheek. “It stuck in her cheek; it didn’t go all the way through her mouth. How it lodged the way it did is … God was with her,” Ashley Hilderbrand, Kinsley’s mother, told reporters.

Kinsley, wearing scars on her cheek from stitches to heal her face where the bullet fragments hit, explained the questions that remain on her mind.

“Why did you shoot my daddy and me?” she asked, per WSOC. “Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?”

Singletary was reportedly new to the area and would frequently get angry with children in the neighborhood. In December, Singletary was reportedly charged with assaulting his 21-year-old girlfriend with a mini sledgehammer. Police said Singletary kept the victim inside his apartment and did not allow her to leave for over two hours.

“I want to say to the people of Gaston County — this sort of violence will not stand. We conducted a large-scale search overnight for Mr. Singletary, and we have partnered with the United States Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force to aid us as we continue to search,” Gaston County Police Chief Stephen Zill said.

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“My No. 1 priority as chief is to make sure each and every one of our citizens is safe. Every person in every part of our county deserves that same opportunity, and it is our priority to make that a reality.”

Gaston County is just west of Charlotte, North Carolina’s biggest city.