Hunter charged with fatally shooting a woman he thought was a deer, police say

A 74-year-old man has been charged in the fatal shooting of a woman after he said he mistook her for a deer while hunting, the Delaware State Police said.

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Walter Moorhead of Salisbury, Maryland, was arrested after troopers responded at about at 7:40 p.m. on Friday to a report of a woman shot in an open field in the town of Ellendale. Troopers provided care before the 39-year-old woman was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

State police identified the woman Sunday as Santos Maria Chilel Soto of Georgetown, Delaware.

Chilel Soto was walking in the field with a man and two children when Moorhead fired at her, according to state police. He was allegedly hunting from a camouflaged shelter, known as a “ground blind,” and believed he saw a deer and fired his rifle, striking Chilel Soto, according to police.

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Moorhead was charged with manslaughter, reckless endangerment and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was released on $43,000 cash bond, state police said.

Moorhead did not return a phone call requesting comment on Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether he has retained an attorney.

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