Suspect in NC neighborhood shooting that injured child turns himself in in Florida
The North Carolina man who shot at at least four people — wounding a child and two others —turned himself in to Florida police, officials announced Thursday night.
Police began a manhunt for Robert Louis Singletary, 24, earlier this week. He fled his Gastonia area neighborhood after the shooting, police said.
He now faces murder charges after turning himself in to Tampa police, according to Gaston County Police.
The shooting happened at the intersection of April Drive and Grier Street just off York Highway Tuesday night.
Police identified the victims as William James White, Ashley Hilderbrand, Derrick Kenneth Prather and an unnamed child.
White remained in serious condition at a Charlotte hospital as of Thursday evening, according to the news release.
Hilderbrand suffered a grazing gunshot wound and Prather was shot at but not hit, police said.
Officials will not release the name of the child involved in the shooting, according to the news release, but WSOC — the Observer’s news partner — identified a 6-year-old girl as the victim.
The girl appeared on camera with a stitched cheek Wednesday afternoon.
“Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?” she asked.
The two other injured people are her parents, according to WSOC.
Police did not indicate a motive behind the shooting in their Thursday evening press release. Witnesses told WSOC the shooting began when a basketball rolled into Singlertary’s yard. He then shot until he ran out of bullets, they said.
Singletary is facing four counts of attempted 1st degree murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflecting serious injury and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, police said in a news statement.
In December, Gastonia Police Department charged him for assaulting his 21-year-old girlfriend with a mini sledgehammer, according to a previous news statement.
Police partnered with the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force to find Singletary, Police Chief Stephen Zill confirmed Wednesday.
Singletary will appear in court Friday in reference to extradition to Gaston County.
Police are asking anyone with further information to contact Det. J. Brienza at 704-866-3320 or Crimestoppers at 704-861-8000. Crimestoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information pertinent to the investigation.
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 4:23 PM.
