A 14-year-old girl in Louisiana is expected to survive after a neighbor allegedly shot her in the back of head while she and other children played a game of hide-and-seek on his property.
David Doyle, 58, was arrested Sunday morning at his home in Starks, a rural town near the Texas border, after officers with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of shots fired.
When police arrived, they found the 14-year-old had been shot in the back of the head. The girl was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
Police said several children were playing hide-and-seek on Doyle’s property when the neighbor shot at them.
Doyle “stated he observed shadows outside his home, at which time he went inside and retrieved his firearm,” the news release said. “He then advised detectives he went back outside and observed people running away from his property, at which time he began shooting at them and unknowingly hit the girl.”
Doyle has been charged in Sunday’s shooting with aggravated battery, four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and illegal discharge of a firearm.
The latest shooting has become commonplace in a country where citizens have been shot ― and killed ― for making minor mistakes or inconveniencing someone. In April alone, there were five shootings across the country that followed a similar pattern.
Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old in Missouri, was shot last month after mistakenly going to the wrong address to pick up his younger siblings. The shooter, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, has been charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.
That same month, a New York man was charged with second-degree murder after allegedly shooting and killing a 20-year-old woman after she accidentally drove into his driveway.
Two cheerleaders in Texas were also shot in April after one of them accidentally entered the wrong car. Both girls survived and are recovering from their injuries. Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was arrested and charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony.
A couple in Florida said their car was shot at after they accidentally drove to the wrong address for an Instacart delivery. Police declined to charge the shooter because it happened on his own property.
And at the end of April, an Illinois man was fatally shot while using a leaf blower on his own property. Ettore Lacchei, 79, was charged in the shooting, and neighbors told police Laachei had been seen yelling at neighbors in the past and brandishing his gun.