A tragic mix-up in Indiana has reignited debate over America’s “stand-your-ground” laws.
A homeowner shot and killed a house cleaner who had simply arrived at the wrong address.
Police say 32-year-old Maria Florinda Rios Perez, a mother of four from Guatemala, was found dead in her husband’s arms.
This happened on a front porch in Whitestown early Wednesday morning.
The couple had been looking for a client’s home.
Instead, they knocked on the wrong door — and moments later, a bullet came through it.
Complex Shooting Case
“They should’ve called the police first,” said her husband, Mauricio Velazquez, speaking through an interpreter to CBS News.
“Instead of just shooting out of nowhere.”
Investigators have turned the case over to prosecutors to decide if charges will be filed, calling it “complex and delicate.”
At the center of that complexity? Indiana’s stand-your-ground law, which allows residents to use deadly force if they believe they’re in danger.
Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said the legal language makes such cases “difficult.”
The shooting echoes other recent tragedies — from Ralph Yarl in Missouri to Kaylin Gillis in New York.
All were victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And as one neighbor put it, “How many more people need to die before we start knocking with caution instead of shooting first?”
