This article has been updated with the name of the woman who was killed, additional information from court documents, and an interview with family of the victim.
ELLENDALE, Del. - A 74-year-old Salisbury man was charged with manslaughter after police said he shot and killed a woman Friday evening while hunting deer in Ellendale.
Court records say Delaware State Police responded shortly before 7:42 p.m. Sept. 18 to an open field on the east side of South Old State Road, just north of East Robbins Road. Santos Maria Chilel Soto, 39, of Georgetown, had a gunshot wound to her upper torso and was taken to Bayhealth Hospital in Milford, where she later died, according to court documents.
The family explained that they were taking a walk and were in the field to avoid busy traffic on the roadway. (Sharon López)
DSP said Walter Moorhead was hunting from a ground blind when he believed he saw a deer and fired his rifle. Chilel Soto had been walking through the field with a man and two children, police said. The family explained that they were taking a walk and were in the field to avoid busy traffic on the roadway.
Police wrote that Moorhead later walked toward the area where he had fired and saw a person with what appeared to be a gunshot wound. According to court documents, Moorhead acknowledged that the person's wound resulted from a shot fired from his rifle.
"When I got there, the man was on the ground. It looked like he was sad about what happened or something," said Sharon López, Soto's daughter. "I don't know if it was on purpose or anything, but I mean, it doesn't seem right how he already got out."
DSP said Walter Moorhead was hunting from a ground blind when he believed he saw a deer and fired his rifle. Soto had been walking through the field with a man and two children, police said.
Moorhead was taken to Delaware State Police Troop 4 in Georgetown for questioning. He is charged with manslaughter, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and three counts of first-degree reckless endangering, according to an arrest warrant and complaint filed in Delaware Justice of the Peace Court. He was released after posting a $43,000 cash bond.
Moorhead is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Sept. 25 in Sussex County Court of Common Pleas. The Delaware State Police Homicide Unit continues to investigate.
