North Carolina man arrested for shooting six-year-old over basketball has been arrested before for sledgehammer attack
Sign up for our free US news bulletin, delivered straight to your inbox every weekday morning
Sign up for our free Morning US email news bulletin
A North Carolina man accused of shooting a little girl and her parents was previously arrested for assaulting his girlfriend.
Robert Singletary, 24, has been charged with allegedly opening fire on six-year-old Kinsley White and his father, William White, when the children went to retrieve a basketball that had rolled into Mr Singletary’s yard. Kinsley’s mother, Ashley Hilderbrand, was also shot during the April 18 shooting. Gaston County Police Department.
Mr Singletary was arrested on Thursday by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Tampa, Florida. He waived extradition during a brief court appearance Friday morning and is expected to be taken back to North Carolina, where he faces four counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. and is facing a murder case. Felony in possession of a firearm.
It has since emerged that Mr Singletary was out on bond for allegedly assaulting his romantic partner with a hammer in December. new york post informed of. The 21-year-old victim, who has not been identified because she is a victim of domestic violence, told authorities in the city of Gastonia that she had lost a lot of blood after the attack.
Mr Singletary allegedly forced her to clean up evidence of the assault and did not let her leave his apartment for two hours. When she finally managed to escape, she drove herself to the hospital and alerted law enforcement.
Mr Singletary was arrested on 7 December, five days after the incident, and charged with causing grievous hurt, kidnapping and making threats. He was released on a $250,000 secured bond, according to Post.
Back in 2016, Mr Singletary was also charged with intent to kill or cause grievous hurt. He served three years in prison for those crimes.
Mr Singletary reportedly fled after Tuesday night’s shooting near Gastonia, a city of about 80,000 people west of Charlotte.
(City of Gastonia Police Department)
Authorities have not commented on what triggered the shooting, but victims have claimed the attack occurred when some children tried to recover a basketball that had rolled in Mr. Singletary’s yard.
“We don’t even know the man,” said Kinsley, who received stitches for the bullet fragment on his cheek. WSOC TV, “Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot the father of a child?”
Her mother also told the station that the suspect threatened her life and that her husband tried to defend her by putting himself in front of Kinsley. As of Thursday, Mr. White was in critical condition at a Charlotte hospital.
“He looked at my husband and my daughter and said to them, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” Ms. Hilderbrand said.
His neighbour, Jonathan Robertson, told The Associated Press that Mr Singletary had shouted at the children several times after moving to the area. Mr. Robertson said the alleged shooter came out of his home with a gun and began shooting as parents tried to get their children to safety.
Authorities say Mr Singletary also fired at another man, identified as Derrick Kenneth, but missed.
