GASTON COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A Gaston County man who was shot in the back while partially shielding his daughter from gunfire as his neighbor reportedly unleashed multiple rounds at the family after a basketball went into the yard has returned home from the hospital.
About one week ago, on Tuesday, April 18, authorities said Robert Singletary, 24, opened fire that night after a basketball rolled into the yard of the home he was living in.
Singletary reportedly yelled at the kids, which brought adults down to protect them.
“Daddy talked to him, and then he turned around and was walking home,” 6-year-old Kinsley described. “And he just came back out with a gun. He started to shoot him.”
William White, who spoke with Queen City News last week while in stable condition recovering from his wounds, said he ran to get his 6-year-old daughter who was on the swing set.
“I said, ‘Kinsley come on, Kinsley come on,’” White told Queen City News. “Get up baby, come on, get in the house.”
Singletary kept firing according to witnesses, and White’s family.
“He would have killed us all that day if he had enough bullets,” said Ashley Hilderbrand, White’s wife.
Hilderbrand was grazed by gunfire, and right beside her, William White and their 6-year-old daughter were shot as well.
“I got halfway up the Dodge truck and that’s when he shot, BOOM,” exclaimed White. “Luckily, I got in front of my daughter, because to me, that’s what he was aiming at. I got in front of her, the bullet hit me, went through me, and the bullet fragment came out and hit my daughter in the cheek.”
Kinsley White was treated and released; for two days local and national law enforcement searched for Singletary, and then he turned himself into authorities in Tampa, Florida.
“I come running out the door jumping for joy hollering and screaming,” said Kinsley’s grandmother, Carolyn Hilderbrand. “He turned himself in.”
“I texted him and showed him he was happy,” added White’s other daughter Chloe.
That text read, “They got him Daddy.”
White’s response: “Hell yeah, I’m happy they got him. Thank God, my kids can rest, my family can sleep in peace.”
William White is now out of the hospital on Monday. Singletary is awaiting extradition in Florida after turning himself into authorities. In a virtual court appearance, Singletary signed off to be extradited to North Carolina but he still hasn’t been picked up by police.
The judge ruled last week that if he wasn’t sent back to the Carolinas, another hearing would have to happen to explain why. That’s currently set for this Wednesday with an event notice already posted on the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office website.
