A man who allegedly shot a six-year-old girl and her parents after a basketball rolled into his yard has been arrested in Florida.
Robert Singletary has been apprehended and is in custody in Hillsborough County, Florida, according to Gaston County spokesperson Adam Gaub.
Officials described Mr Singletary as being “armed and dangerous” after violence broke out in Gastonia, North Carolina, on Tuesday evening.
Gaston County Police said in a statement that the suspect turned himself in to authorities in Florida.
“The suspect, 24-year-old Robert Louis Singletary, turned himself in. Mr Singletary did not have any identification with him. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office processed Mr Singletary and confirmed his identity shortly before 7pm this evening,” the agency stated on Thursday evening.
The suspect is scheduled to have his first court appearance in Hillsborough County on Friday 21 April for extradition back to North Carolina.
Family members have identified the injured youngster as Kinsley White, who was released from the hospital overnight, according to Queen City News.
The youngster’s father, William White, was also shot and wounded in the incident, and her mother Ashley Hilderbrand was grazed by a bullet, reported WSOC-TV.
“We don’t even know the man,” Kinsley, who needed stitches for bullet fragments to the cheek, told the television station. “Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?”
Ms Hilderbrand told the station that the suspect had threatened her husband and daughter’s lives.
“He looked at my husband and my daughter and told them, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” she said.
