An Indiana homeowner was charged Monday for fatally shooting a cleaner who went to the wrong house.
Curt Andersen, 62, was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of Maria Florinda Rios Perez De Velasquez, 32, in the Indianapolis suburb of Whitestown, prosecutors announced Monday.
Andersen fatally shot Rios on Nov. 5 and admitted as much in a police interview, but the charges were delayed while prosecutors considered Indiana’s “stand your ground” law.
“Honestly it wasn’t, I hate to sound cavalier about this, but it was not a hard decision,” Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said Monday at a press conference.
Rios and her husband were supposed to clean a model home on a nearby street but instead showed up on Andersen’s front porch at 7 a.m. on Nov. 5, according to police. Andersen told officers he and his wife were awoken by “commotion” at the door.
While Rios and her husband stood outside, Andersen peered through a window and spotted them, then grabbed his handgun and fired a bullet through the door, investigators said. The bullet struck Rios in the head, killing her.
Andersen’s attorneys have said his actions fall under the “reasonable force” allowed to Indiana residents if they believe an uninvited person is entering their home. However, prosecutors disagreed.
“Based upon the particular evidence and circumstances of this case, we have determined that Curt Andersen’s actions do not fall within the legal protections provided by the Indiana stand your ground law,” Eastwood said.
With News Wire Services
