The home owner, 62-year-old Curt Andersen, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter. Photo / Boone County Jail
Prosecutors today charged an Indiana home owner in the United States with voluntary manslaughter after he shot a house cleaner in the head through his front door – a woman officials say had mistakenly arrived at the wrong address for work.
Curt Andersen, 62, of Whitestown, faces a level two felony under Indiana law – a charge that carries a potential sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison and up to US$10,000 ($17,000) in fines. A judge will set a bond for him at an initial court hearing.
A lawyer for Andersen did not immediately respond to the Washington Post’s request for comment.
Authorities identified the woman killed in the shooting as Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez, 32, a mother-of-four who lived in Indianapolis.
In an online fundraiser, her brother, Rudy Rios, said she and her husband accidentally went to the wrong house on November 5 on Whitestown’s Maize Lane.
At about 6.49am, Whitestown police responded to a 911 call of a “possible” home invasion at the address.
Authorities did not say whether the shooting had already occurred when police were called, but Rios Perez de Velasquez had died on the porch by her husband’s side by the time they arrived.
It was “later determined” that the couple were a cleaning crew, Whitestown police said, adding that the facts “do not support” that the couple entered the home.
Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood told reporters today that his office had concluded Andersen was not protected by Indiana’s “stand your ground” laws – among the most expansive in the US – because Andersen “did not have a reasonable belief that that type of force was necessary, given all the facts that he had at that time”.
The statute allows the use of “reasonable force, including deadly force” – including against a law enforcement officer – if someone reasonably believes it is necessary to stop an unlawful entry or attack on their home, surrounding property or occupied vehicle.
The law also removes the duty to retreat, and the state’s code provides civil immunity for those who use justified force under the statute.
Eastwood said that the charge against Andersen should not be read as a broader attack on self-defence rights.
“It is vitally important for the citizens of Boone County to understand that our decision today in no way should be interpreted as a challenge to Indiana’s ‘stand your ground’ law or a person’s right to self-defence,” he said.
“We respect those laws, believe in those laws and will uphold those laws.”
That law, and those in other states, have become a flashpoint in national debates over gun violence. The National Rifle Association has said the laws protect people’s “fundamental right to self-defence” and are a necessary public safety tool, while opponents say they lead to more violence.
A 2022 study published in JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed medical journal, found that the laws were associated with an increase in firearm homicide rates and concluded that they do not reduce homicides as supporters contend.
The killing in Whitestown mirrors a pattern in recent years where routine exchanges have turned violent after home owners perceived danger where there was none.
In 2023, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot after ringing the wrong doorbell in Missouri. The same year, a Florida home owner fired 30 shots when a pool cleaner arrived after hours. And in 2020, three men shot and killed Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, who was jogging through the neighbourhood in Georgia.
The Boone County Coroner’s office said this month that Rios Perez de Velasquez, an immigrant from Guatemala, was the victim of a homicide after a gunshot wound to the head.
The coroner’s office said it was working with police to conduct a parallel investigation into the shooting.
Rios Perez de Velasquez’s 11-year-old daughter and other relatives gathered around a table in a November 6 livestream shared on Facebook. They mourned her death and asked supporters to help them seek justice for their mother.
Sitting next to a framed photo of Rios Perez de Velasquez, the young girl declined to speak in the livestream, breaking down in tears when she was called brave for being at the table representing her mother.
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