Hunter shoots and kills woman mistaken for deer in Ellendale, Delaware

Walter Moorhead, 74, waived his preliminary hearing after fatally shooting a woman he claimed he mistook for a deer. The case now heads to a grand jury.

Delaware hunter waives hearing after fatally shooting woman he mistook for deer

A 74-year-old Maryland man waived his right to a preliminary hearing in the Sussex County Court of Common Pleas on September 25, according to delawareonline.com, days after fatally shooting a woman he claimed he had mistaken for a deer in a field near Ellendale, Delaware.

Walter Moorhead, of Salisbury, Maryland, was arrested and charged with manslaughter and other offences following the September 18 shooting of 39-year-old Santos Maria Chilel Soto, of Georgetown. The case will now be presented to a grand jury for potential indictment.

Michael Abram, one of Moorhead's attorneys, explained the decision to waive the hearing. "The point of a preliminary hearing is to determine if there is probable cause for the charges," Abram said. "We just thought it would be a circus."

Moorhead was released after posting a $43,000 cash bond. He was not present in the courthouse on September 25, though he was likely behind closed doors, the outlet reported. A small group of people stood outside on The Circle in Georgetown holding signs reading "Justice for Maria Chilel Soto."

What happened in the field

Delaware State Police responded to a field on South Old State Road, north of East Robbins Road, at approximately 7:40 p.m. on September 18 after reports of a woman who had been shot. Officers found Chilel Soto with a gunshot wound to her upper torso.

She had been walking through the field with a man and two children while Moorhead was hunting from a ground blind. One witness told police the group was walking "within an arm's length" of each other when they heard "an explosion" and Chilel Soto fell to the ground. The people with her applied pressure to the wound and called 911.

Before first responders arrived, court documents say a witness described an "older white male" approaching the group, using a flashlight to search for a deer he said he had just shot.

Police detained Moorhead at the scene and took him to Troop 4 in Georgetown for questioning. According to court documents, he acknowledged he was hunting in the field and had fired at what he believed was a doe. He told police he initially had the animal in his scope but had to reposition because it was moving. After repositioning himself and his weapon, he fired at what he thought was the deer.

Sunset on September 18 was recorded at approximately 7:05 p.m. by the U.S. Naval Observatory. Delaware law permits deer hunting until one half-hour after sunset during open season. It remains unclear whether the shooting occurred within or beyond that window.

Hunting permit questions

Although archery and crossbow deer hunting season opened September 1 in Delaware, muzzleloader season does not begin until October 9 and general firearm season not until November 13. However, crop damage permits allow the use of any legal firearm during the broader deer hunting season, which typically runs from early September through January, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Delaware State Police spokesman Raushan Rich confirmed that Moorhead was hunting on an active crop damage permit at the time of the incident.

Source: Google News GY — Georgetown