A Delaware man has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman he reportedly mistook for a deer while hunting, authorities said. The incident occurred Friday evening on private property near Ellendale, about 75 miles south of Wilmington.

Walter W. Moorhead, 74, was hunting under a crop damage permit when he fired his rifle from a ground blind at approximately 7:40 p.m., around 30 minutes after sunset. The permit allows commercial farms experiencing crop damage to hunt antlerless deer outside normal hunting limits. Delaware hunting regulations permit deer hunting until 30 minutes after sunset, which was around 7:06 p.m. that day in Ellendale.

Moorhead struck Santos Maria Chilel Soto, 39, who was walking across an open field with her boyfriend and his two children at the time, according to an arrest warrant. Ms. Soto, a Georgetown resident originally from Guatemala and mother of five, was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the torso.

The victim's boyfriend told police they were crossing the field together when Moorhead, positioned in the blind, fired. After hearing the shot and seeing Ms. Soto fall, Moorhead reportedly searched the area with a flashlight for the deer he believed he had hit.

In addition to the manslaughter charge, Moorhead faces three counts of reckless endangering and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was released on a $43,000 cash bond. Efforts to contact Moorhead for comment were unsuccessful.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, which oversees hunting regulations, did not immediately comment or provide details regarding the property or permit involved. Ownership of the property where the shooting occurred also remained unclear.

Local community members responded to the tragedy, with Iglesia de Dios Fuente de Verdad Delaware in Georgetown posting about Ms. Soto’s death on social media. A GoFundMe campaign was established to assist with repatriating her body to Guatemala.