Cheer star Cassadee Dunlap‘s father was shot last week while returning to his Little Rock, Arkansas home.
According to DailyMail, Ronald Dunlap had been out drinking with his nephew on Friday night. When coming home around 3:12 a.m. on Saturday, it’s believed he was drunk and accidentally entered the wrong unit at Canopy Apartments. While in his intoxicated state, he forced himself into the wrong apartment — he lives in 15 C but entered 12 D.
Police say the resident of the apartment, Joshua Womack, was asleep when he was awoken by “banging on the door”. Upon a drunken Dunlap entering the apartment, KATV ABC 7 reports the tenant “grabbed his firearm” and “fired five or six rounds” when he thought someone was in the kitchen, shooting the accidental intruder. No other injuries were reported, but the shooting was apparently so erratic some rounds even hit the neighbor’s doorway.
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Such an unfortunate situation all around! We understand wanting to protect yourself, but there was reportedly no altercation, just some banging around — was that amount of rounds necessary? We guess we just don’t know! On one hand, some people are taught to shoot an intruder until they’re sure they’re down, and on the other, this is exactly why some people choose to not have a gun around at all. Of course, the guy who shot him had just been woken up in a daze to fear of an intruder… so, yeah, definitely not a situation we’d ever want to catch ourselves in! That kind of thing can be its own kind of traumatic.
Sadly, though, it seems the Netflix star’s family will be the ones dealing with most of the trauma…
When law enforcement arrived to the scene, they found the 47-year-old “lying face down outside” of the apartment. It’s unclear if he was shot in the doorway and fell back, stumbled back out of the apartment upon being shot, or if he was dragged there — but Womack did tell police he thought someone was “in his kitchen” and that’s why he fired the gun.
Immediately after being found, Dunlap was stabilized and transported to Baptist Hospital. His brother, David, told TMZ he’s in “critical condition” and is still in the hospital as of writing this. Reportedly he’s “fighting for his life”. As of Tuesday, the investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed against Joshua for the incident.
Cassadee, who you also may know from TLC‘s Toddlers & Tiaras, has yet to comment on what happened. The victim’s ex-wife, Cheer Perfection‘s Alisha Miller Dunlap Hinson, has also yet to break her silence on the terrible event.
Such a tragic and avoidable situation. It’s absolutely heartbreaking what this poor family is having to go through. Sending love and light to Ronald and his loved ones. We hope he can make a full recovery soon.
[Image via Instagram/Cassadee Dunlap]