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    6-Year-Old, Parents Shot after Basketball Rolls into Man’s Yard

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    Police in Gastonia, a town in Gaston County, North Carolina are hunting for a gunman who shot a 6-year-old girl and her parents on Tuesday night. Apparently, the incident happened when several young kids were playing basketball and a basketball rolled down the street and into the suspect’s yard.

    Apparently, the suspect, Robert Singletary, was so furious that the basketball rolled into his yard that he then chased the kids back up the street while firing a handgun at his neighbors. Then Singletary came back and shot at William White as White as he ran away with his 6-year-old daughter, Kinsley.

    Both Kinsley and her father were seriously hurt by the gunfire and her mother, Ashley Hilderbrand, was grazed by a bullet. William White is still in the hospital, Ashley Hilderbrand has recovered from the grazing wound and is back at home, as is Kinsley. So William White was able to rescue his daughter, but at the cost of being seriously injured himself.

    Posting about the incident on its Facebook page, the Gaston County Sheriff’s Department said (post condensed into paragraph form):

    🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE🚨 Following a shooting on Tuesday night, multiple local law enforcement agencies are assisting with the search for a 24-year-old man. Robert Louis Singletary is wanted for allegedly shooting two individuals in the 4700 block of Grier Street, south of the Gastonia city limits.  Two individuals were shot and taken to the Caromont Medical Center. One was in critical condition while the other is stable.  If you live in the immediate area surrounding the neighborhood, you should remain inside and call 911 if you see anything suspicious. Singletary was last seen with a gun, and should be considered armed and dangerous. Singletary is 6 feet, 2 inches tall with brown eyes and black hair, weighing approximately 223 pounds



    A local reporter, Ken Lemon, reported about the incident on Twitter, saying, “‘Why did you shoot me? Why did you shoot my dad?’ 6 yo Kinsley White has stitches from bullet fragments in her cheek. @gastoncountypd say Robert Singletary is on the run after firing shots on April Dr. last night. Kinsley’s mother & father were hit by shots too. The mom is home.”

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    The incident is similar to the case of Cannon Hinnant, who was murdered by a neighbor when he rode his bike into the man’s yard. Here’s what The Daily Mail reported about that shocking murder:

    North Carolina police have charged a neighbor with the murder of a five-year-old boy who was riding a bike in his own yard when he was shot at point blank range on Sunday evening. 

    Darius Sessoms, 25, was taken into custody by Wilson police around 24 hours after he allegedly approached Cannon Hinnant in front of the young boy’s father’s house at 5:30pm and shot him in the head. 

    Hinnant’s seven-year-old and eight-year-old sisters witnessed the killing, their mother told WRAL. 

    Sessoms lived next door to the family, and the killing is not believed to be random. Neighbors claim he had dinner with Hinnant’s father Austin on Friday and had been over at the house earlier on Sunday. 

    The motive for the killing is still under investigation, but a GoFundMe established by a family member says that the young boy rode into Sessoms’ yard.

    Featured image credit: Gaston County Sheriff’s Office