Indiana woman killed after arriving at wrong address to clean, police say

A woman was shot dead after she arrived at the wrong address for a cleaning job, police in Whitestown, Indiana, said.

Police said they found 32-year-old Maria Florinda Ríos Pérez de Velásquez dead on the front porch of the property with a gunshot wound, accompanied by her husband, on Wednesday morning, after responding to a call about a “possible home invasion.”

It was “later determined” that the couple attempting to enter the property were “members of a cleaning crew who had mistakenly arrived at the wrong address,” the Whitestown Metropolitan Police Department said, adding that the facts “do not support” that the couple gained entry to the home.

Ríos Pérez de Velásquez was a resident of Indianapolis from Guatemala, Whitestown police said in an e-mailed statement Friday, adding that it was a “complex and evolving case” and they were “committed to conducting a thorough and sensitive inquiry to determine whether charges are appropriate.”

Boone County Coroner’s office said Ríos Pérez de Velásquez 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.

Mauricio Velásquez told the Indianapolis Star that he and his wife worked as self-employed house cleaners, and they had checked the address twice before approaching the home.

She was holding the keys for the job when she was shot, he told the newspaper. “She didn’t even put the key in when I heard the shot happen,” he added. “Then she dropped, and I went to catch her. I was trying to console her … but I was seeing the blood coming out.”

Whitestown Police Captain John Jurkash said the gunshot had come from “inside the home” while photos taken by local media showed a bullet hole visible in the front door. “There were several people both inside the home and at the scene at the time,” Jurkash said in a press briefing.

The couple had been living in Indianapolis for a year, the Indianapolis Star reported, adding that they had four children.

Whitestown is around 20 miles north of Indianapolis.

The case has shocked the local community, while people have donated tens of thousands to a fundraiser for the family organized by a Whitestown resident.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” Stephanie Spencer, a Boone County resident, told WRTV. “You know, don’t ‘shoot first, ask questions later.’ You know, answer the door, see who they are, see if they have the wrong house.”

In a statement, police said they were “interviewing all individuals involved” and urged people to refrain from speculation about the case, saying: “Misinformation can be harmful to those involved and to the integrity of the investigation.”

Kent T. Eastwood, the Boone County prosecuting attorney, said in an e-mailed statement Friday that the local community was “devastated” by the “tragic incident.”

He added that the prosecutor’s office expected to receive a final report from the police early next week, and it would then “begin a comprehensive review” to determine which actions to take.

“At this time, it would be inappropriate for me to speculate on what actions this office may take. What I can assure the community is that we will follow the law as written by the Indiana legislature and pursue justice allowed under the law,” he said.

Indiana has a “stand-your-ground law” stating that a person is justified in using “deadly force” against another person if they believe it is necessary to prevent the unlawful entry or attack on their home, land or occupied motor vehicle.

The case echoes similar incidents in recent years in which people have been shot for innocuous activities, including that of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who was shot twice after accidentally ringing the doorbell of Andrew Lester in Kansas City in 2023, having mixed up Lester’s home with an address he was due to collect his younger twin brothers from. Lester pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, but he died days later.

That same year, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was killed after she and her friends accidentally pulled into the wrong driveway in upstate New York while looking for their friend’s house. The homeowner, Kevin Monahan, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to more than 25 years to life in prison. Also in 2023, Texas cheerleaders Payton Washington and Heather Roth were shot at after one girl mistakenly got into the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot.