US man arrested for allegedly shooting a 14-year-old girl playing hide and seek

The officials,on Monday (May 8), said that theyhave arrested a 58-year-old man in Southwest Louisiana, United States after he allegedly shot at a group of children playing hide-and-seek, one of whom was injured. According to the local sheriff’s office, the accused is facing aggravated assault and battery charges.

The incident took place in a small town named Starks, in the state of Louisiana which borders Texas, early Sunday. The man, later identified as David V. Doyle, is currently in the Calcasieu Parish Correctional Center on Tuesday morning. The 14-year-old girl, as per the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office, suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head and was taken to the hospital.

As of Monday, the victim’s injuries were not considered as life-threatening. A group of juveniles “were playing hide and seek in the area and were hiding on the neighbour’s property,” said the officials, when Doyle allegedly fired his weapon. The accused told the detectives that “he observed shadows outside his home, at which time he went inside and retrieved his firearm.”

Subsequently, “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,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a statement. According to the officials, Doyle was arrested and charged with aggravated battery, four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, and illegal discharge of a firearm.

This comes as the US has faced a number of shooting incidents which have killed several and injured many over seemingly trivial circumstances.

Two high school cheerleaders who approached the wrong car in a Texas parking lot, last month, were shot at, seriously injuring one of them. On the same day, April 18, a six-year-old girl and her father in North Carolina were shot after their basketball reportedly rolled into the alleged shooter’s yard.

A 20-year-old woman, Kaylin Gillis was shot and killed on April 15 when she and her friends mistakenly drove up the wrong driveway in New York when the homeowner allegedly opened fire.

Last month, an84-year-old man allegedly shot a Black teenager, Ralph Yarl, who mistakenly came to his door, when he was supposed to pick up his younger brothers.

(With inputs from agencies)

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