Indiana Female Fatally Shot When Showing Up at Incorrect Home Address for Cleaning Duties
Authorities in Indiana are considering possible criminal charges against a resident who reportedly fatally shot a female when she mistakenly went to the incorrect address where she believed assigned to clean a property.
Police discovered Maria Florinda Rios Perez De Velasquez, aged 32, dead early Wednesday morning at the entrance of a home in Whitestown, a community of approximately 10,000 residents outside Indianapolis.
She was part of a cleaning crew that had arrived at the incorrect house, according to police in a press statement.
Authorities have not publicly identified the shooter, but investigators turned over their findings from the probe to the Boone County prosecutor, the county prosecutor, on Friday afternoon.
The incident will focus on Indiana’s “castle doctrine” laws, which allow a person to use deadly force to stop what they reasonably believe is an unlawful intrusion into their home.
However the shooting has stunned the community. The victim’s spouse, her husband, told WRTV that he was present with her at the home’s entrance but didn’t realize she had been hit until she fell into his arms, injured. On a fundraising page, her brother mentioned that she was a parent to four children.
Thirty-one states have similar laws to Indiana in place, as reported by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In similar cases in other states, prosecutors have successfully brought charges against people who opened fire outside their residences, including a guilty plea by an elderly man who shot Ralph Yarl when the teen approached his home by mistake. In New York, a man was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting a female in a vehicle who entered his driveway by mistake.
This tragic event underscores continuing discussions surrounding stand-your-ground statutes and their application in everyday situations.
