A 74-year-old hunter, Walter Moorhead, is facing charges after he mistakenly shot and killed a woman in Delaware, believing she was a deer. The incident occurred on a Friday evening in Ellendale, as stated by Delaware State Police.

Moorhead, a resident of Salisbury, Maryland, has been charged with manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the shooting of 39-year-old Santos Maria Chilel Soto. He was apprehended at the scene and later released on a $43,000 bond. The investigation revealed that Moorhead was hunting in an open field, crouched and aiming his rifle, when he misidentified Soto, who was walking with a man and two children.

Emergency responders arrived around 7:40 p.m. and attempted life-saving measures on Soto before transporting her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

“Our church experiences deep sorrow as we announce the passing of our beloved sister in Christ, Maria Chilel Soto,” expressed an evangelical church in Georgetown, Delaware, in an obituary translated from Spanish.

In addition to the manslaughter charge, Moorhead is also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and three counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree.

State police are continuing their investigation and request anyone with information to contact them directly or provide tips through Delaware Crime Stoppers.

Soto’s family is raising funds through a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral expenses and transport her body to Guatemala for burial. By Monday, they had gathered approximately $4,500 of the $6,500 goal.

This incident recalls a similar case from a year ago in rural Iowa, where a teenager was accidentally shot by another hunter mistaking him for a squirrel.