Indiana Woman Killed When Arriving at Incorrect Home Address for Cleaning Duties
Law enforcement officials in the state are considering possible criminal charges against a resident who allegedly shot and killed a woman after she mistakenly went to the wrong address thinking she was assigned to clean a property.
Police discovered Maria Florinda Rios Perez De Velasquez, 32 years old, dead early Wednesday morning on the front porch of a residence in Whitestown, a community of approximately 10,000 residents near Indianapolis.
She belonged to a cleaning team that had arrived at the incorrect house, police stated in an official release.
Officials did not publicly named the shooter, but investigators turned over the results from the probe to the Boone County prosecutor, the county prosecutor, on Friday.
This case will focus on Indiana’s self-defense statutes, which allow a person to use deadly force to prevent what they reasonably believe is an unlawful intrusion into their dwelling.
However the killing has shocked many. The victim’s spouse, Mauricio Velazquez, stated to local media that he was standing with her at the front door but was unaware she had been shot until she fell into his arms, bleeding. On a fundraising page, her brother mentioned that she was a parent to four children.
A majority of US states have similar laws to Indiana in place, according to the national legislative research group.
In similar cases in other states, prosecutors have successfully brought charges against people who opened fire outside their residences, such as a guilty plea by an elderly man who shot Ralph Yarl when the teen approached his home by mistake. In another state, a man was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting a woman in a vehicle who drove down his driveway by mistake.
The incident highlights continuing discussions surrounding self-defense laws and how they are applied in everyday situations.