A heartbreaking case of mistaken identity has led to the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Maria Florinda Ríos Pérez, an Indianapolis mother of four, in a quiet Whitestown, Indiana, suburb. She was shot while attempting to enter a residence she believed was scheduled for her cleaning job.
The Fatal Error in Whitestown
The tragic incident occurred just before 7:00 AM on Wednesday. Pérez and her husband, Mauricio Velázquez, who work together as self-employed house cleaners, arrived at a stately home, confident they were at the correct client address after checking the details multiple times.
Velázquez recounted the horrific moment to the Indianapolis Star: "She didn’t even put the key in when I heard the shot happen." He witnessed his wife stumble and drop to the ground, fatally wounded. "I was trying to console her... but I was seeing the blood coming out," he said.
Police, who responded to a 911 call reporting a possible home invasion, found the couple on the front porch. Pérez, who had relocated to Indianapolis from Guatemala a year prior, was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.
The Legal and Emotional Fallout
Authorities quickly determined the couple were not intruders. The Whitestown Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that the gathered facts “do not support that a residential entry occurred.” The shooter, whose identity has not been released, fired from inside the home.
The case, however, is complicated by Indiana’s robust "Stand Your Ground" laws (also known as the Castle Doctrine), which permit homeowners to use lethal force to protect their dwelling if they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent an unlawful entry or attack. Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood stated that his office will follow the law as written to determine if charges are appropriate.
Mauricio Velázquez is now seeking justice for his wife, whom he described as "the love of my life... a good wife and a good mother." He and his family are currently working to repatriate her body to her hometown in Guatemala. Pérez is survived by her husband and four children, the youngest of whom is not yet a year old. The investigation remains active, and no arrests have been made.
