A local gunshot was reported to 911 around 7:44 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the Gaston County Police Department. Investigators ultimately concluded that Singletary shot two adult males, one young female, grazed another female, and critically wounded a third adult male.
William James White, Ashley Hildebrand, and Derrick Kenneth Prather, three adult victims from Gastonia, were identified by police as the three victims. White was shot and is still in critical condition, according to the police. According to authorities, Hildebrand had a grazing gunshot wound, while Prather was shot but not injured. The 6-year-old, whose identity will not be made public, also has a gunshot wound, according to authorities.
The shooting started when a basketball from a group of nearby kids playing basketball in the street rolled into Singletary’s yard, according to neighbors who spoke to the Charlotte-based ABC News station WSOC. Before approaching William and Kinsley White, a father and son, Singletary reportedly fired a pistol at a neighbor. Both were sent to a nearby hospital for medical attention.
Why did you kill my father and I? Why did you kill a child’s father? Kinsley questioned in an emotional interview, sutures from the gunshot pieces that struck her face still evident.
According to family members, William White attempted to position himself in the line of fire to shield his family while Singletary fired the full magazine at his neighbor. His companion Ashley Hilderbrand claims White was shot in the back in his own front yard.
He shouted, “I’m going to kill you,” to my husband and my daughter as he turned to face them, according to Hilderbrand.
Multiple warrants have been issued by Gaston County police for Singletary’s arrest. Four charges of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one offense of having a gun while a felon are all brought against him.
In relation to his extradition back to North Carolina, Singletary is scheduled to appear in court in Florida on Friday, according to the police.
In a second lawsuit filed in December, Singletary was accused of using a little sledgehammer to beat up his girlfriend, causing her to bleed heavily from the back of her head, and locking her inside an apartment for two hours.
According to a news statement from December, “the victim further stated that Singletary told her that she could not leave until she had cleaned up all the evidence from the assault.”
The chief of the Gaston County Police Department, Stephen M. Zill, stated, “I want to say to the people of Gaston County — this sort of violence will not stand.”
The shooting in North Carolina is the latest in a series of events where apparently unimportant errors resulted in grave repercussions involving weapons. In the last week, a lady in New York was slain after entering the wrong driveway, two cheerleaders in Texas were shot after getting into the wrong vehicle in a parking lot, a 16-year-old was shot in Missouri after ringing the wrong house’s doorbell.
