‘I’ll take a million of them,’ says Gaston Co. father shot while protecting daughter

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A father is back from the hospital after police say he and his daughter were shot in their yard by a neighbor in Gaston County.

It’s a story Channel 9 first reported last week that almost instantly drew national attention.

“Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid’s dad?” asked 6-year-old Kinsley White.

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Kinsley is now back in school. On Monday, her dad, William White, returned to his home on April Drive after several days in the hospital. He spoke to Channel 9′s Ken Lemon while sitting on his front porch, just yards away from the spot where he was shot on April 18.

White said he can’t believe Robert Singletary was out on bond for reportedly beating a woman with a sledgehammer, and said Singletary should not have even been living there.

White was still visibly wounded and left the interview for a doctor’s appointment. He paused while speaking a couple of times because of heavy pain caused by taking deep breaths. He kept his hand on an area of his stomach that still has bullet fragments. He said he is grateful to be alive.

“I probably still would not be here,” he said.

White told Lemon he believed he was going to die over a neighborly dispute. He said Singletary chased his neighbor and fired shots at that person because a basketball rolled in the yard of the home where Singletary stayed. No one was hurt.

White said after that shooting, he told Singletary he shouldn’t do that with children around, and that was when Singletary started chasing him. White said he turned around and saw Singletary was aiming at his 6-year-old daughter.

“Thank the good Lord above, I was able to get in front of my baby,” William White said. “I’ll take a million of them for my babies.”

The shot went into White’s back and through his liver. He said fragments from that bullet are what hit his daughter’s cheek.

White said he laid on the ground believing he was going to die. He said Singletary fired three more shots that all missed before he walked away.

White said responding officers, who were worried at that point about an active shooter, grabbed White by the arms and legs and ran to medics.

“If they would have made me wait on an EMT I wouldn’t be here,” White said.

Robert Singletary was arrested in Florida last week. White said he never deserves to see the light of day again.

Singletary’s grandmother, Brita Betsy, talked to Lemon by phone. She said when family members learned he somehow got to the Tampa Bay area after the shooting, they begged the suspect to turn himself in.

Betsy told him about Kinsley and the bullet fragments that were pulled out of her cheek.

“That upset him, he actually started crying,” she said. “He was very emotional about that.”

Betsy said the shooting was inexcusable, but she said another neighbor threatened to shoot Singletary’s home during the ordeal. She said Singletary also struggles with anxiety.

“My grandson suffers from PTSD. He was shot at 15,” she said.

Singletary was out on bond for the alleged sledgehammer assault when the father and daughter were shot. White said he never should have been released.

“I will be at every court appearance that man has to make sure that justice is served for my baby,” White said.

Singletary’s mother told Lemon he was on medication for mental health problems, but the medication is expensive and she had trouble getting it recently.

He is supposed to return to Gaston County from Florida and face a judge in the next few days.

(PREVIOUS: 6-year-old, parents shot in Gaston County; police search for gunman)

6-year-old, parents shot in Gaston County; police search for gunman

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