DELAWARE, DE — A Maryland hunter is facing felony charges after Delaware State Police say he fatally shot a Georgetown woman while believing she was a deer. Troopers say the shooting happened in Sussex County on the evening of Sept. 18 and left 39-year-old Santos Maria Chilel Soto dead after she was taken to a nearby hospital.
Police identified the suspect as 74-year-old Walter Moorhead of Salisbury, Maryland. He was arrested at the scene after investigators determined he fired the shot that struck Soto in an open field near South Old State Road, just north of East Robbins Road. Moorhead was later arraigned and released on a $43,000 cash bond.
Troopers responded after a shooting was reported near South Old State Road
Delaware State Police said troopers were sent to the area at about 7:40 p.m. on Sept. 18 after a report of a shooting in an open field. When officers arrived, they gave emergency medical aid at the scene before Soto was transported to a nearby hospital.
She was later pronounced dead, according to police. The location is in Sussex County, near the intersection of South Old State Road and East Robbins Road, a rural stretch where hunters and pedestrians can both be present in the same open land.
Investigators said Moorhead was taken into custody at the scene once they determined he was the person who fired the fatal shot. The shooting immediately became a homicide investigation handled by Delaware State Police.
Police say Soto was walking with an adult man and two children
According to the preliminary investigation by the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit, Soto was walking through the field with an adult man and two children when she was shot. Police said Moorhead was hunting deer from a ground blind and saw movement before firing his rifle.
Investigators said he believed he was shooting at a deer. That mistake is at the center of the case, which police describe as a deadly hunting incident rather than an intentional confrontation.
The investigation remains with the homicide unit, which is handling the facts surrounding the shooting, the position of the hunter, and the people who were in the field at the time.
Moorhead faces manslaughter and reckless endangering charges
After the investigation at the scene, Moorhead was taken to Troop 4 and charged with manslaughter, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and three counts of first-degree reckless endangering.
All of the charges listed by police are felonies. Delaware State Police said the manslaughter charge stems from the death of Soto, while the additional counts reflect the danger investigators say was created for the other people in the field.
Moorhead was arraigned in Justice of the Peace Court. He was then released after posting a $43,000 cash bond, according to police.
Delaware State Police have not said whether anyone else was injured
Police said emergency medical care was provided at the scene, but they have not reported any other injuries in connection with the shooting. The case file described by investigators centers on the fatal wound to Soto and the risk to the adult man and two children who were with her.
Delaware State Police have not released any additional details about the hunting setup, whether the field was posted, or whether visibility conditions played a role. They also have not said what, if anything, may have affected Moorhead’s ability to identify the target before he fired.
The department’s homicide unit continues to handle the investigation, which remains focused on how a routine deer hunt ended in the death of a woman walking through the field.
A rural hunting mistake led to a fatal outcome in Sussex County
Deer hunting is a common activity in parts of Delaware, but police say this case turned deadly when a hunter mistook a person for game. The incident underscores how quickly a split-second decision can become a fatal event when a firearm is discharged in an area where people are also moving through the land.
Soto’s death has been attributed by police to that mistaken identification. Moorhead, meanwhile, remains charged as the investigation proceeds, and court records already show he has been released on bond pending the next stage of the case.
For now, the official account from Delaware State Police is that a woman walking through a field lost her life after a hunter fired believing he was aiming at a deer.
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