A manhunt is underway for a North Carolina man who neighbors say shot another man and his 6-year-old daughter after a basketball rolled into his yard.
The girl had a bullet fragment in her cheek and was released from the hospital, her mother, Ashley Hilderbrand, told NBC affiliate WCNC of Charlotte. Hilderbrand was grazed by a bullet while her husband remains hospitalized.
“It was very scary,” she said. “My daughter actually got to come home last night. She just had a bullet fragment in her cheek. Still, scary, but my husband, he’s still in the hospital.”
The shooting happened Tuesday outside of a home just south of Gastonia, about 22 miles northwest of Charlotte. Neighbors told the news station that children were playing outside when a basketball rolled into Robert Louis Singletary’s yard.
The Gaston County Police Department said it received 911 calls just before 7:45 p.m. Tuesday about a man firing a gun in his neighborhood. They have not said what led up to the shooting, citing an ongoing investigation.
Hailey Martin, 17, told NBC News in a phone call Thursday that Singletary had been staying at the home for less than a month and would complain about toys and balls being on his property. The teenager, who was outside when shots rang out, said she believes the shooting was sparked by a ball bouncing into his yard.
“It’s sad to see little kids scatter, running for their lives,” she said.
“This neighborhood always been peaceful, quiet,” Martin added. “There’s always kids running around. We don’t care if the balls get in the yards because either the kids or the parents will come bring the toys back.”
Another neighbor, Jonathan Robertson, told WCNC that he saw Singletary come out of the home shooting.
“I was hollering at everybody to get down and get inside,” he said.
Authorities are still searching for Singletary, 24, who faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Gaston County communications director Adam Gaub said at a Wednesday news conference that additional charges could be filed because bullets went into a nearby home.
Officials asked anyone with information on Singletary’s whereabouts to contact police. Police Chief Stephen Zill told residents to remain “vigilant” and “keep their eyes open.”
“If they see this individual or someone meeting that description, call 911 immediately and let our officers come out and deal with that subject,” he said at the news conference, referring to a mug shot of the suspect.
Hilderbrand said she wants Singletary to “please turn yourself in.” She did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.
The shooting follows three similar incidents involving gun violence after apparently harmless missteps.
Earlier this week, two Texas cheerleaders were shot after one of them mistakenly got into the wrong vehicle. In New York, a woman was fatally shot after she and some friends pulled into the driveway of a home they thought belonged to another friend, and in Missouri a teenager was shot and injured after he rang the wrong doorbell while trying to pick up his younger siblings.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
