GUNS IN AMERICA
House cleaner, mother of 4, fatally shot in Indiana after showing up at the wrong address

Maria Florinda Rios Perez, a 32-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, died in her husband's arms, her brother said.


——— A cleaning crew worker was fatally shot Wednesday in Whitestown, Ind., after arriving at the wrong house to clean.WTHR

Nov. 6, 2025, 12:04 PM EST / Updated Nov. 6, 2025, 12:45 PM EST
By Daniella Silva and David K. Li

A house cleaner and mother of four died in the arms of her husband on Wednesday after she was fatally shot to death outside a home near Indianapolis after they mistakenly arrived at the wrong address, the woman’s brother told NBC News.

Maria Florinda Rios Perez, a 32-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, was headed to work cleaning a home with her husband in Whitestown, Indiana, on Wednesday morning when they arrived at the wrong house, Rudy Rios said in Spanish. … Rios, 22, said when his sister had just arrived at the house, she tried to open the door using keys she was carrying when she was shot in the head and “fell into the arms of her husband.”

“It’s so unjust. She was only trying to bring home the daily bread to support her family,” Rios said. “She accidentally went to the wrong house, but he shouldn’t have taken her life.” … “She wasn’t threatening, she had nothing in her hands, only those keys,” he said.

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Indiana has relatively strong "stand your ground" protections for homeowners to defend their dwellings against threats, Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said. … "When it comes to a dwelling, individuals can use reasonable force, including deadly force, against another person," Eastwood told NBC News. … "They have no duty to retreat, that's in the law. That person who uses that force has to reasonably believe that the force is necessary to prevent or terminate an unlawful entry or attack on the person's dwelling."