By Steve Gorman
(Reuters) -Detectives in Indiana have completed their initial investigation into the killing of a cleaning woman who mistakenly arrived at the wrong address and was shot through the door by a resident who feared an intruder was outside, police said on Friday.
The findings of the Whitestown Metropolitan Police Department were formally submitted to the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office for review to determine whether criminal charges will be brought in connection with Wednesday’s killing.
The prosecutor, Kent Eastwood, told local media the case is complicated by the “castle doctrine” of Indiana’s “stand your ground law” giving individuals a right to protect themselves against a home invader, in some cases using deadly force.
The slain cleaning woman was identified by police as Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez, 32, a resident of Indianapolis who according to media reports was an immigrant from Guatemala and the mother of four children.
She suffered a single gunshot to the head, fired by one of two residents from the other side of the door, when Rios Perez and her husband showed up at the house just before dawn, said a police spokesperson, Captain John Jurkhash.
By then, the residents had already called emergency-911 to report a possible burglary in progress.
Officers arriving at the scene found Rios Perez fatally wounded and determined that she and her husband were “members of a cleaning crew who had mistakenly arrived at the wrong address,” police said in a statement.
There was no evidence of an attempted break-in, police said.
The husband, identified by the Indianapolis Star as Mauricio Velazquez, told an online news site that he and his spouse believed they were at the correct address and checked the location twice before approaching the house.
According to the Star, Velazquez said the couple were standing on the front porch searching for the key to the home, located in the Indianapolis suburb of Whitestown, when the shooting occurred.
Police have not identified the residents of the home, or who is believed to have pulled the trigger, saying the investigation involves a “complex, delicate, and evolving case.”
The circumstances were reminiscent of other cases in recent years in which homeowners have opened fire on individuals who turned up at the wrong address and were mistaken for intruders.
The county prosecutor reviewing the Whitestown case will need to take into account an Indiana state law allowing people in their homes to use deadly force to protect themselves if they reasonably believe they are under threat from an intruder.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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