The partner of a Delaware woman who was shot dead by a hunter allegedly mistaking her for a deer has said the killing was “senseless” and the hunter had “no excuse”.
“I have never seen a deer with only two legs,” Minivaldo Velásquez told the Delaware public news outlet WHYY in an interview published on Thursday about the death six days earlier of Santos Maria Chilel Soto. “It doesn’t make sense – no.”
Velásquez’s comments came after authorities investigating the case arrested ۷۴-year-old Walter Moorhead on suspicion of manslaughter, which Delaware defines as recklessness causing the death of another person.
State police investigators had previously said Moorhead was hunting from a ground blind near the community of Ellendale at about ۷.۴۰pm when he thought he spotted a deer and fired his rifle. Yet it was actually Chilel Soto whom Moorhead shot at and struck, according to authorities.
Velásquez told WHYY that he, Chilel Soto and two of her children were walking through a harvested cornfield at the time of the shooting after going to dinner as a family.
“She had a yellow blouse, and I was wearing a blue T-shirt,” said Velásquez, who also said the shooting happened about an hour earlier – when it was presumably more visible – than the time listed by police.
Velásquez reportedly told police he applied pressure to Chilel Soto’s gunshot wound – which was to her torso – and called emergency responders. She was then brought to an area hospital and pronounced dead there, state police said.
Investigators said they jailed Moorhead after speaking with him and determining that he shot Chilel Soto, purportedly thinking she was a deer.
Hunting deer with a rifle was not in season at the time of the shooting, according to Delaware’s laws. But WHYY, citing information from Delaware’s department of natural resources and environmental control, reported that the property where Chilel Soto was killed had a permit authorizing the harvest of antlerless deer there outside the normal season.
Investigators booked Moorhead on counts of manslaughter, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and reckless endangering.
In Delaware, the first two of those counts are considered class B felonies, which can carry up to ۲۵ years in prison. Moorhead – a resident of Salisbury, Maryland – posted a $۴۳,۰۰۰ bond to secure his release from custody pending the outcome of the case, state police said.
Velásquez later told WHYY that Chilel Soto’s killer has “no excuse – the excuses are unacceptable and senseless”.
“That was a cold-blooded murder,” Velásquez continued. “It was not an accident. It was ۱۰۰% not an accident.”
WHYY reported that Chilel Soto was a mother of five originally from Guatemala. The outlet reported being told by one of Chilel Soto’s sisters, Yolin, that sane people trying to hunt “should make sure it really is an animal before shooting – and what kind of animal”.
Yolin Chilel Soto also suggested there may have been a component of “racism” to her sister’s killing, according to WHYY.
“This person should receive psychological help before carrying a weapon – and not just at the beginning. They need it continually,” Yolin Chilel Soto reportedly said.
Attempts to contact Moorhead for comment have not been successful. He waived a preliminary court hearing on Friday, the Delaware news station WDEL.
WDEL also reported that dozens of people in support of Santos Maria Chilel Soto gathered outside and in the courthouse on Friday.
