Officials: Man Accidentally Shot Daughter After Mistaking Her For An Intruder

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A man in Virginia shot his 16-year-old daughter early Tuesday morning while she was attempting to sneak back into their house, according to Capt. Donnie Lang of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office.

Television station WHAG reported on Tuesday that Lang said the incident occurred at about 3:30 a.m. after the father, who was getting ready for work, heard his home alarm go off.

“The homeowner, he has an alarm system inside what I call is ‘audible,’ in that it tells you what door is being opened,” Lang said. “When he went to go investigate what had set off the alarm, he heard some banging and rustling around in the garage. At that particular point, he obtained a firearm that he had there in the kitchen area.”

The father allegedly fired the gun because he sensed that someone was “coming at him” and, due to the poor visibility, wasn’t able to recognize his daughter, WHAG reported.

After realizing what had happened, the man rushed her to a local hospital, but WHAG reported that on the way there, the man crashed his car and emergency crews were called to take the girl to the hospital.

The daughter is expected to survive, and WHAG said it remains uncertain whether charges will be filed against the father. Neither the father nor the daughter were named in the report.

Lang said the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office will “confer with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office [to] reference all the facts, and once it is completed, determine how they want us to go further,” according to WHAG.

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