A six-year-old girl and her parents were allegedly shot by their neighbour after a basketball rolled into his garden. Kinsley White from Gaston County, North Carolina, was playing with other kids when their ball went into Robert Louis Singletary’s yard.
Mr Singletary then allegedly lashed out and began firing at Kinsley and her parents, who were both struck by bullets from the 24-year-old’s weapon.
In a heartbreaking plea, young Kinsley spoke with the local TV crew WSOC, asking the shooter: “‘Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?”
The hunt for Singletary began immediately, and police warned he was “armed and dangerous” after fleeing the area.
Kinsley needed stitches to her cheek after the attack, and William White – her father – was also seriously injured in the attack.
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Kinsley’s mother, Ashley Hilderbrand, told WSOC that Mr White had attempted to distract Singletary in the hope other children could get away, and as he did was hit by a bullet in the back.
Mr White reportedly remains in hospital as doctors are fighting to save his life.
Ms Hilderbrand claimed she overheard Singletary make a threat to her family members, saying: “He looked at my husband and my daughter and told them, ‘I’m going to kill you’.”
After making the threat, Singletary then allegedly chased the family and opened fire.
Carolyn Hilderbrand, Kinsley’s grandmother, added: “I believe he would have got me and my husband too. He just run out of bullets.”
But the details as to why the family were targeted in the first place have plagued them ever since, with Kinsley saying: “We don’t even know the man.”
Kinsley’s comments were made barely hours after the attack, and while she still had fragments of bullet placed in her cheek.
As she spoke, the child held her grandfather’s hand, fighting back the urge to cry.
Local reports say Singletary was new to the neighbourhood, and had previous episodes where he had got upset with children in the area.
Mr White had reportedly become away of the shooter’s supposed run-ins, and this was why on the tragic Tuesday this week, he rushed down to the scene to protect his daughter.
Singletary, described as a black man, six feet, two inches tall, and with brown eyes and black hair, remains on the run, the authorities say.
In a plea for Singletary, Ms Hilderbrand added: “Just please turn yourself in. There was no sense in what you did.”
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