Inset: Walter Moorhead (Delaware State Police). Background: The area where Moorhead allegedly killed a woman he believed was a deer (WCAU).
A 74-year-old hunter in Maryland is accused of shooting and killing a Delaware woman after allegedly mistaking her for a deer while she walked through a field with her boyfriend and two young children.
Walter Moorhead was taken into custody and charged with one count each of manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the slaying of 39-year-old Santos Maria Chilel Soto, authorities announced. Moorhead is also facing three counts of first-degree reckless endangering in connection with the shooting.
According to a press release from Delaware State Police, troopers responded at 7:40 p.m. Sept. 18 to an open field near South Old State Road, north of East Robbins Road in Ellendale, regarding a report of a woman being shot.
Upon arriving, first responders attempted lifesaving measures before emergency medical personnel transported the victim to a local hospital. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the facility.
The preliminary investigation determined that Soto was walking through the field with her boyfriend and two children while Moorhead was hunting deer from a ground blind. A ground blind is a shelter used by hunters to hide from their prey.
"Moorhead believed he saw a deer and fired his rifle, striking the victim," the release states.
Soto's boyfriend, identified only as "Miniveldo," told Philadelphia NBC affiliate WCAU that he, Soto, and his two children had been walking in the field when he heard a loud bang.
"All of a sudden I heard an explosion," he told the station through a translator. "She had covered her ears and she fell."
Soto's daughter, who was in a nearby house, heard the gunshot and reportedly ran to her injured mother.
"When I got there she was on the ground and she wasn't like responding or anything," the daughter told the station.
After the shooting, Moorhead reportedly walked toward the area where he believed he had shot a deer, only to find Soto and her companions. Soto's boyfriend told WCAU that Moorhead initially tried to flee the scene, but stopped after being told police were coming and that Miniveldo would not allow him to leave.
State environmental officials told WCAU that the area has a permit allowing for deer hunting, due mainly to crop damage, but explained that individual hunters must be on an approved list.
It was not immediately clear how far away Moorhead was from Soto when he allegedly fired, whether he was authorized to hunt in the area, or whether he was permitted to be hunting there at that time of day.
Moorhead appeared for his arraignment and was released after posting a $43,000 cash bond, state police said. He is scheduled to appear for his preliminary hearing Sept. 25 in Sussex County Court of Common Pleas.
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