Indiana Housekeeper Shot, Killed After Going To Wrong Home

A house cleaner and mother of four was shot to death Wednesday after she and her husband arrived at the wrong address to service a home in Whitestown, Indiana. María Florinda Ríos Pérez de Velásquez, 32, died in her husband’s arms because a resident inside shot her through the door, and now local law enforcement is trying to determine whether the state’s “stand your ground” or “castle doctrine” laws should apply.

According to the New York Times, Ríos Pérez de Velásquez, an immigrant from Guatemala who came to the U.S. with her husband about three years ago, suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. Police officials have not yet revealed the identity of the shooter. Her brother, Rudy Ríos Pérez, explained what happened.

From the Times:

Ms. Ríos Pérez de Velásquez and her husband lived in Indianapolis and began working for a house cleaning company about a year ago, her brother said.

Mr. Ríos Pérez said that his sister and her husband were going to clean a new client’s home on Wednesday. The husband, who later described the moments leading up to the shooting to Mr. Ríos Pérez, said that he had struggled to open the door and that his wife had then taken the keys from him, teasing him for not being able to get it unlocked. Seconds later, she was shot in the head, Mr. Ríos Pérez said.

The family later discovered that the house they had been hired to clean was behind the one they had tried to enter, he said.

Imagine that: one minute, your spouse is teasing you for struggling with a locked door, and a split-second later, the lighthearted moment turns into an unimaginable horror show as your spouse is suddenly dead in your arms. What should have been a mundane “oops” moment turned into a tragedy that took a wife away from her husband, a mother away from four children, and the life of an innocent woman who was barely in her 30s. And now, the family and the community are tasked with being patient while investigators figure out if any crime has been committed at all.

“We understand that incidents like this can cause concern and speculation,” the Whitestown Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement, according to NBC News. “We respectfully ask the public to place their trust in the investigative process and refrain from sharing unverified information. These cases are often complex and require time to fully understand. Misinformation can be harmful to those involved and to the integrity of the investigation.”

“When it comes to a dwelling, individuals can use reasonable force, including deadly force, against another person,” Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood told NBC, explaining Indiana’s relatively strong “stand your ground” law. “They have no duty to retreat; that’s in the law. That person who uses that force has to reasonably believe that the force is necessary to prevent or terminate an unlawful entry or attack on the person’s dwelling.”

Still, it’s difficult to imagine what needs to be investigated here if we know, factually, that Ríos Pérez de Velásquez was an employee for a cleaning service and that she was simply at the wrong home, with the right address being close to that residence. Is it “reasonable” when someone shoots blindly from inside the home without knowing who was outside or why?

The Times noted that there were two residents inside the home, including the homeowner, and they reportedly believed their home was possibly being broken into and called 911. Within the roughly five minutes between when the 911 call was placed and the arrival of police, a shot was fired, and the victim was dead.

This brings to mind the case of Susan Lorincz, the subject of Netflix’s documentary film “The Perfect Neighbor,” who shot and killed Ajike “AJ” Owens, a Black mother of four from Ocala, Florida, who Lorincz shot through the locked door of her home and killed right in front of her son. Now, this wasn’t a situation where Owens came to the wrong home. Owens was attempting to confront Lorincz over an incident with her son — one of numerous conflicts Lorincz had with several families in the community — but Lorincz was, apparently, relying on Florida’s “stand your ground” law to get away with it, which, fortunately, did not happen. Instead, Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Actually, the killing of Ríos Pérez de Velásquez bears a more similar resemblance to the 2023 non-fatal shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager in  Kansas City, Mo., who was shot twice by 84-year-old Andrew Lester after arriving at the wrong house to pick up his younger brother. Lester shot Yarl in the head after the teen rang the doorbell without a single word being exchanged between the two. Then, Lester shot him again in the arm as Yarl attempted to run away. Later, Lester claimed he believed his house was being broken into, despite telling officers that he was awakened when Yarl rang his doorbell, which would be an odd thing to do if one was planning to break in. “Stand your ground” also didn’t work for Lester, who was convicted of felony assault in the second degree but died while awaiting sentencing.

“Each fact scenario is different, but it is a troubling trend in our communities across the nation,” said Eastwood, who will review Ríos Pérez de Velásquez’s killing to determine if charges will be filed against the shooter. “I think everyone can agree this person should not be dead.”

No, she shouldn’t, but she is. Now the question is: Will justice be done?

SEE ALSO:

Ajike Owens’ Killer, Susan Lorincz, Wants To Sue Owens’ Children For Slander, Libel And Defamation

Ralph Yarl Sues Man Who Shot Him

Indiana Housekeeper Shot And Killed After Arriving At The Wrong Home. Will ‘Stand Your Ground’ Apply? was originally published on newsone.com