Deputy Shoots Daughter After Mistaking Her for Intruder

A veteran Virginia deputy shot his teenage daughter after mistaking her for an intruder, then crashed his car rushing her to the hospital himself, reports WHAG. The 16-year-old girl is in stable condition with a bullet wound to her torso. The bizarre chain of events unfolded about 3:30am Tuesday, when the family's home-security system alerted Loudoun County deputy Easton McDonald to a potential intruder in his garage. As McDonald investigated, he opened fire on a figure in the dark.

“Then he hears her voice and recognizes that it’s his daughter,” says a spokesperson with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. It seems the girl was returning home after sneaking out earlier, reports the Washington Post. The 13-year sheriff's veteran decided to drive her to the hospital himself, but lost control of his vehicle in his panic and crashed into a barricade. Neither he nor his daughter were injured in the crash, though an ambulance had to complete the girl's trip to the hospital. (More Virginia stories.)