A North Carolina man has been arrested in the shooting of a 7-year-old girl, police said Wednesday.

The Forest City Police Department said in a news release that when officers responded on Tuesday to a call of a child being shot, they found two people removing Aaliyah Norris from a car. Officers discovered she suffered a single gunshot wound to the head and said she is hospitalized in critical condition.

Police arrested Shaquille Marshon Francis, 26, of Forest City on Wednesday and charged him with multiple offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.

Authorities said those charges were upgraded to murder.

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Police arrested Shaquille Marshon Francis, 26, of Forest City on Wednesday and charged him with multiple offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill. Authorities said those charges were upgraded to murder. (Courtesy Forest City Police)

Francis was released from jail on unrelated charges three hours before the alleged shooting of Norris, Forest City Police Chief Chris LeRoy said.

Francis is being held in the Rutherford County jail in lieu of a $10 million secured bond. It’s not known if he has an attorney.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Frank Miles is a reporter and editor covering geopolitics, military, crime, technology and sports for FoxNews.com. His email is [email protected].